costs and benefits; secondly, adjustments may be needed in the market prices of inputs and outputs
to account for price distortions; and thirdly, con- sideration and estimation of any forward and
backward links to the primary charcoal produc- tion industry Abaza, 1993; Dosman and Luckert,
1998.
Specifically, this study focuses on answering two major questions in public miombo woodlands sur-
rounding the Kitulanghalo Forest Reserve: 1 What is the value of charcoal production the main
commercial activity in the area from the produc- ers’ point of view? And 2 is the full cost of
charcoal production being acknowledged?
2. Study area
The study site is about 50 km east of Morogoro and 150 km west of Dar-es-Salaam and comprises
public communal lands surrounding the Kitu- langhalo Forest Reserve. The public lands com-
prise settlements, open woodlands and cultivated land. The area is bisected by the Dar-es-Salaam –
Morogoro highway which marks most of the southern boundary of the reserve and is the main
transportation route for forest products to urban and commercial centres such as Dar-es-Salaam and
Morogoro Fig. 1.
One thousand and twelve households with a total population of 4640 people live in three vil-
lages: Lubungo, Maseyu and Gwata, of which the surrounding woodlands are important for subsis-
tence purposes and as a source of income, as the majority of the local people obtain construction
materials, fuel wood and medicines from them Luoga et al., 2000b. The public lands, which are
easily accessible to the people B 5 km from settlements, and B 10 km from the Dar-es-
Salaam – Morogoro highway, are estimated to cover about 16 500 ha, out of which 3150 ha
comprise permanent cultivation and settlements and 13 350 ha open woodlands.
The climate of the area is tropical and subhumid Kielland-Lund, 1990. Mean annual rainfall is
about 900 mm which is seasonally distributed providing a wet season from November to May
and a dry season from June to October. The annual mean temperature is 24.3°C while the annual min-
imum and maximum temperatures are 18.6 and 28.8°C, respectively. This climate, together with the
generally nutrient-poor, well-drained soils, sup- ports miombo woodlands and some patches of
semi-evergreen forests Kielland-Lund, 1990.
There are no longer large wild mammalian herbivores in the area, nor are there cattle due to
the presence of tsetse flies Glossina spp., which transmit sleeping sickness nagana to domestic
animals. Annual fires are common in the area, although there are no specific data for fire fre-
quency and intensity. The local farming system is characterized by shifting cultivation of food for
subsistence consumption and the market. Farm production, which is generally poor, relies on
family labour with simple tools and no or very little capital input.
3. Methods
