Browsing by Author "Temu, Augustin Basil"

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    Miombo woodland inventory design a response to fuel wood scarcity in Tabora, Tanzania
    (University of Dar es Salaam, 1980) Temu, Augustin Basil
    This study was conducted in Tabora Region Tanzanias where flue cured tobacco is grown mainly by small scale farmers as a cash crop. An analysis of the problems encountered in tobacco and low soil fertility were the basic ones. A comparison of possible alternative sources of energy showed that fuel wood was the most reliable and economically feasible source for the foreseeable future. This means that if the tobacco production in Tabora is to be sustained exploitation from the currently available woodlands has to be regulated and supplemented with fuel wood plantations. However the first task was to produce a method of making an inventory of the fuel wood resource in the woodland. 2,080 ha of woodland were demarcated in Ulyankulu Forest Reserve. Single tree volume tables were constructed for the six most abundant tree species using destructive sampling method and felling the trees. These tables were used to estimate standing volume of saw logs and fuel wood separately. Volume estimates for the less abundant tree species of similar morphology or by deriving simple tree volume tables from measurements taken on standing tees during the main inventory field work. Inventory results showed that the mean volume to 5cm top diameter (o.b) were 120cm3 93cm3, 116cm3 and 116m3 per ha for the four sub-populations with fuel wood forming slightly over 70% of the volume in each case. In conclusion the policy of reservation in large blocks for timber production is unsuitable for the current rural development strategies. The wood lands ought to be sub-divided into smaller more intensively managed units to cater for timber more fuel wood and other needs.