Non-Timber Forest Products in the Honduran Moskitia

Introduction
The Honduran agricultural frontier is moving up into the natural reserves of La Moskitia, home of the indigenous Miskitos, Tawahkas and Pech. (Il)legal logging and extensive animal husbandry are quick ways for making money here, yet treathen Honduras’ tropical rainforests and the livelihoods of its indigenous inhabitants. MOPAWI, a development agency for La Mosquitia and partner organization of ICCO, is looking to manage the forests more sustainably, through the commercialization of Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs).

Background
From its establishment in 1985, MOPAWI has been stimulating the commercial production of cocoa, but in more recent years other NTFPs like batana (Elaeis Oleifera) and swa (Carapa Guianensis) have grown more important. Although both swa and batana have been used for centuries by the indigenous people of La Moskitia for different medical and cosmetic purposes, the commercial value of these products was never recognized, until recently.

In 2000, A Canadian entrepreneur, Dennis Simioni discovered the amazing properties of batana for the hair during his holidays, which eventually led to the foundation of a new cosmetics company, Ojon Corporation. Ojon Corporation has formed a strong alliance with MOPAWI and is currently buying large quantities of NTFPs from the zone. Using an origin based product marketing strategy they sell shampoos, conditioners and moisturizers to the highest segment of the Canadian and US cosmetics market.

After less legal and less sustainable economic activities, like logging and narcotrafficking, the commercialization of NTFPs has become the most important source of income for a large number of indigenous communities in La Moskitia. The population of La Moskitia predominantly exists of subsistence farmers that can really use the monetary income for the purchase of medicines, the studies of their children, clothing and to improve their housing conditions. Currently, the target group consists of around 2000 families producing batana, 400 families producing swa and, 600 families producing cocoa.

Roles and responsibilities of the different actors in the chain
At this point, MOPAWI has a strong role in the value chain of the NTFPs, taking care of the purchase and logistics of the different products and negotiating contract terms with Ojon Corporation. In return, MOPAWI receives a fixed quota over every liter of batana or swa delivered to the representative of Ojon Corporation in San Pedro Sula, the country’s man harbor. Basically MOPAWI is fulfilling the role of a trading company in the value chain.

At the same time MOPAWI is also forming local committees of producers in every village and councils with representatives of different committees, which in turn are organized into one overarching association per region. These associations are to take over some of MOPAWI’s current roles over time.

Apart from building local management capacity, MOPAWI also provides technical assistance to the producers of the different NTFPs.

(Technical Facilitator of MOPAWI)
Barriers to development of local management capacity
MOPAWI’s transition of a chain actor to a chain facilitator has been complicated by a number of factors. First of all, the level of education of the target group, the producers of the NTFPs, is very low. Illiteracy lies between 50% and 80%, depending on the community. People with higher education are scarce, yet essential for a solid management and administration of the different associations. Finding honest and competent local administrators is difficult and professionals from other parts of the country do not want to work in the isolated Moskitia. The number of local organizations failing because of mismanagement and corruption is troublesome, despite numerous capacity building programs of GTZ, the EU, FUNDER and MOPAWI. The Moskitia sometimes appears to be a cemetery of failed local economic development initiatives.

A second constraint to the empowerment of local organizations is transportation. The majority of the communities are rather small and geographically dispersed.
In addition, most of the communities can only be reached by motorboat over water. Fuel is expensive in La Moskitia, because it has to be brought from outside of La Moskitia and there is no physical infrastructure connecting La Moskitia with the rest of the country (which actually might be a good thing as otherwise the region would probably have already been robbed of all its natural resources). These conditions make the logistic process difficult and require good planning and coordination between the different communities.

(Transporting the Ojon Palm Fruit)

Finally, communication means between communities are limited. There is no phone network in the region and the fast majority of the communities do not have internet access or electricity. Radio communication is a possibility for most communities, yet not always readily accessible.
Due to these constraints the process of empowering local producer based organizations (at community, regional and intraregional levels) in taking over chain responsibilities of MOPAWI is a rather slow-paced process. Lack of personnel for the building of capacities of the producer based organization slows this process even further down. It seems unlikely at this moment that MOPAWI will redraw entirely as a chain actor, yet what role it will take in the future is still a point of discussion.

Dependency
Ojon Corporation has a strong commitment and interest in La Moskitia. Its product names, its slogans, its commercials, its whole marketing strategy is based on the image of ancient tribes using magical hair products, long time hidden from humanity in the tropical rainforests of Honduras. In addition, Ojon is profiling itself as a socially responsible enterprise; not only buying its raw materials from La Moskitia, but also actively contributing to the sustainable development of the region.

Ojon Corporation pays considerably better prices for the NTFPs to the indigenous producers, than producers in other parts of the world receive for the same products. Ojon is moreover MOPAWIs main donor and pays for the cost of an educational project that is setting up several schools in different remote communities.
It seems to be a win-win situation for all the actors in the value chain. Ojon has a solid marketing strategy, MOPAWI a flexible donor, and the producers a good price for their products. To a large extent this is true, yet one connotation should be made. Exclusivity contracts have been closed with each individual producer, making it impossible for other potential buyers to compete with Ojon Corporation. In addition, Ojon Corporation has protected the extraction of batana with patents. Although it is not likely that there are buyers willing to pay as much as Ojon Corporation for the Batana and Swa oils, Ojon’s demand for the NTFPs is limited. The potential production of NTFP is much higher than required by Ojon Corporation and because of the described constraints; entrance of potential buyers to purchase the overproduction is made impossible.

(SWA oil producers)
The purchase orders placed by Ojon Corporation, also directly influence MOPAWIs budget, creating instability in the NGO’s operations (e.g. how much personnel to contract each year). MOPAWI’s is highly dependent on Ojon Corporation and has the difficult task to balance its NGO activities (Natural Resource Management, building local management capacities, and defending indigenous rights) with its business activities (the commercialization of the NTFPs).

Maarten den Uyl (Junior Business Advisor ICCO-MOPAWI)e-mail. maartendenuyl[at]hotmail.com