Blacksmiths and Bellows

Blacksmiths are a small but important group of specialists who play a valuable role in the farming community of the DTC area, producing agricultural implements and tools (photo 3, page 9). Smelting of haematite is no longer carried out, but scrap metal is re-worked into tools and hardware (e.g. hammers, locks, dog bells). 

The secondary forest tree species Polyscias fulva (omungo) (photo 4, page 9) is the major source of wood for construction of bellows, whilst exotic species such as black wattle (Acacia mearnsii) have been favoured for charcoal use since at least the 1960s. 

It is recommended that blacksmiths are allowed to continue to harvest Polyscias trees for construction of bellows. The role that blacksmiths can play in rural development and possibly sensitively planned specialist tourism needs to be recognized. If not, this traditional skill and technology will disappear.

Wood is used by blacksmiths (omuhesi) for two main purposes. First, in construction of bellows (omuzuba), where large trees with low density ("soft") wood are selected, and second, for charcoal, where high density woods are preferred. 

The use of bellows for iron-working represents an historical link with the technology introduced to this region some 2000 years ago. Both the technology and the traditional knowledge this represents is disappearing, however, due to competition from industrially produced goods. In 1968, only four blacksmiths interviewed in Kigezi by White (1969) claimed to smelt iron-ore. Although favoured sites for collection of haematite and smelting technology are still known, iron-smelting no longer takes place. Instead, scrap metal from old cars or from broken agricultural tools is reworked.

Blacksmith numbers are considered to have declined, and most blacksmiths are older men over 50 years. White (1969), for example, records 23 blacksmiths working in the Kitumba area in Kigezi. From enquiries made in this survey, it would appear that at most only 2-4 blacksmiths work in each parish, and in some parishes there are none.

Most blacksmiths have one set of bellows; most (n = 9) of these are made of Polyscias fulva (omungo) wood, and a single bellows was made from Musanga leo-errerae (omutunda). Both are favoured for their soft wood, which can be hollowed out to form the drums and pipes of the bellows. Despite the low density of Polyscias wood, bellows last 20-30 years, which probably exceeds the time that it would take P. fulva to reach a suitable size for bellows construction (40-50 cm dbh). 

Due to their soft wood however, both Polyscias fulva and Musanga leo-errerae are avoided for other uses (building, timber, beer boats). Felling of these trees for this purpose would be on a limited scale and restricted to secondary forest, and it is recommended that utlization in multiple-use areas be permitted.

Both exotic and indigenous tree species were recorded as used by blacksmiths for charcoal. Black wattle (Acacia mearnsii) is favoured for this purpose, a situation unchanged from that of the late 1960s (White, 1969). Favoured indigenous species are Syzygium guineense (omugote) in low-altitude sites, and Agauria salicifolia (etchigura). Parinari excelsa (omushamba) and Sapium ellipticum (omushasha) are also used. 

Canoes

Dug-out canoes are made and used at only one locality in the DTC area (Lake Bunyonyi, bordering on Nyarurambi parish). All of these canoes are carved from cultivated trees, primarily Eucalyptus (82%), and none is cut in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. Canoe construction is not therefore considered applicable to forest multiple-use areas in this study.

Wood carving - household items

Photo 18. Carving spoons from Markhamia lutea (omusavu) wood.

A range of wooden items is found in most households in the DTC area and these are important in food processing (stamping mortars and pestles for grain and groundnuts), collection (milk pails) and consumption (spoons, beer mugs) (Photo 18, page 32).  Tree use for these utensils is often selective, with hardwoods required for mortars, while softer species are acceptable for beer mugs and milk pails. Hardwoods are also important for walking sticks, while Rapanea melanophloeos (omukone) is used for carved walking sticks for commercial sale (Table 8, page 33).

Although commercial scale harvesting concentrating on a single species (e.g. Rapanea melanophloeos) may result in localized over-exploitation if not regulated, impact of use for carving is small compared to uses such as cutting for bean stakes or beer boats.

Beer boats (obwato)

Beer boats, the carved wooden troughs used for brewing banana beer (tonto) are a very important item to banana farmers adjacent to the northern sector of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. As an alternative to selling the bananas, they provide a means of processing and "adding value" to the crop of embiri, kisubi, musa or endizi banana varieties used to make banana beer, which is then transported to village markets. 

The irony is that in the process of clearing land for agriculture, including land for bananas, most of the large trees (>50 cm dbh) suitable for making beer-boats have been destroyed. In addition, stocks of some of the most favoured tree species used for beer boats (e.g. Prunus africana and Newtonia buchananii) have already been over-exploited by pitsawyers. Although not perceived as in critically short supply at present, it can be expected that in the forseeable future, Bwindi Forest will be seen as the major remaining source of beer boats. 

Photo 19. Beer boats provide an important means of processing certain banana varieties in order to add value and reduce the weight of banana product to be transported. This is done by trampling the bananas to remove the juice.

Beer boat production should not be considered for multiple-use areas at present. Emphasis needs to be placed on encouraging more extensive planting of Markhamia, Ficus and Erythrina trees as alternative sources of beer boats, and investigating other alternatives used in tonto producing areas, for example in Ankole District and near to Kampala, where deforestation has already taken place, but tonto is still produced in vast quantities. These alternatives include banana juice extraction in troughs lined with cowhide (J. Baranga, pers. comm., 1992) or cement. Although bananas are grown throughout the DTC area, the most important parishes for banana production, and tonto making in particular, are the Nteko, Mukono, Kanungu and Karangara areas (Photo 19). With the exception of poor farmers with very little land who are unable to produce a banana surplus for marketing tonto, all farmers cultivating bananas have at least one beer boat. At Nteko, in the sample of 35 farmers owning beer boats, 63% (22) owned a single beer boat, 34% (12) owned two beer boats each, and the remaining farmer owned three beer boats. At Nteko, a farmer with a single beer boat brewed twice a month, with 175 litres of tonto produced each time. This represented an income of 20,000 shillings per beer boat (or 40,000 shillings per month, with tonto sold for 2500 shillings per 20 litre jerry-can), a very important aspect of economic production in the DTC area.

Indigenous trees were used for all the beer boats measured (n = 79) in Nteko and the Ngoto area. Hardwood trees (Newtonia, Prunus) are favoured for their durability, and Ficus species, with less dense or durable wood, because of their size. Newtonia buchananii and Ficus sur were the most commonly used for beer boats in the Nteko area (Table 9), whilst unidentified Ficus species (probably F. ovata and possibly F. sur) and Prunus africana were most commonly used in the Ngoto area. This results in selective, localized removal of large Ficus trees that are a "keystone" species, being a major food source for frugivorous birds and primates. 

Eucalyptus trees were considered to be unsuitable because they cracked too easily, although they are used for making canoes at Lake Bunyonyi. Beer boats are constructed and then carried by a group of men to the banana plantation. Most, 92% (42), beer boats at Nteko, and 61% (17) at Ngoto were less than 9 years old, and few beer boats in either area lasted more than 12 years. Durability depends on care of beer boats, which last longer if stacked off the damp ground on poles or stones, and kept under a shelter built in the banana field. Many beer boats, however, are left on the ground, and merely covered with banana leaves in between brewing times. Taking all beer boats measured into account (n = 79), 72% (57) were greater than 40 cm diameter (Figure 4). From these data, and discussions with local banana farmers, it was considered that these were made from trees >50 cm dbh. 

Figure 4. Diameter size class distribution of beer boats measured on small banana farms in the Nteko and Ngoto swamp areas of the DTC project.

BUILDING POLES

Building poles are required throughout the DTC area. Selection of poles is based on a need for straight and preferably durable trees or tree ferns of a suitable diameter (5-15 cm dbh, Table 10, page 34). 

Favoured indigenous forest species are Drypetes spp. (omushabarara), particularly Drypetes ugandensis and D. gerrardii, Tabernaemontana sp. (kinyamate), Harungana madagascariensis (omunyananga) and the tree-fern Cyathea manniana (omungunza) for durable support poles and roofing, with Arundinaria alpina (omuganu) favoured for cross-pieces. 

Compared to cutting of poles from woodlots (Eucalyptus, Acacia mearnsii or Sesbania), harvesting from forest is more labour-intensive due to the comparatively low density of suitable poles. In a recent survey conducted in the DTC area with 120 respondents, Eucalyptus (88%, 106) and Acacia mearnsii (49%, 59) were the species most preferred for building and had respectively been planted by 77% (92) and 36% 43) of respondents (Kanongo, 1990). From field observation, it is clear that many homes in the DTC area are built from these cultivated tree species (particularly Eucalyptus), with the use of exotic species increasing with distance away from the forest. It is recommended that self-sufficiency in building materials is facilitated through development of nurseries and supply of seedlings to interested growers. Opening of multiple-use areas to allow harvesting of building poles is not recommended.

Housing is a basic need, and in the DTC area cultivated and wild plant resources are an important source of most low-cost housing material. Although corrugated iron is favoured and commonly used, it is difficult to get since the closure of the Rwanda-Uganda border, and it is also expensive. Many homes are therefore thatched with banana fibre, or if adjacent to wetlands, with Cyperus latifolius sedge. 

Harvesting of thatching materials from within Bwindi Impenetrable Forest is negligible, and the two main categories of building material relevant to multiple-use areas are building poles and bamboo. As bamboo is a multiple-use material occurring in a limited area of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, it is discussed separately (see page 27).

Wood consumption for building purposes is probably similar to that estimated by Howard (1991) for the Bwamba region, western Uganda (0.27 m³ wood per household per year, or 0.038 m³ per person per year). Although low compared to other parts of Africa (e.g. 1.5 m³ per person per year in Owambo, Namibia; Erkkila and Siiskonen, 1992), population densities and number of households, and consequently the demand for building poles, adjacent to Bwindi Forest are very high (Figure 2, page 5).

Occurrence of good quality building poles is patchy, depending on forest structure and species composition. Where poles occur, they are often at a low density (an average density of 207 very good poles per ha, or a total of 525 useable poles per ha (n = 7 plots) (Figure 5). This is very low compared to a stand density of 1363 stems per ha even in 12 year old (thinned) commercial stands of Acacia mearnsii with a 14.4 cm mean dbh (Schönau, 1970) and a far higher density in local Eucalyptus plots. 

Figure 5. Acceptability of trees in seven 20 x 20m plots in Bwindi Forest (Ishasha, n = 4 plots; Ngoto, n = 3 plots) showing proportion of trees with stems rated suitable for building purposes.

These factors, coupled to the steep terrain, make cutting of building poles from the forest a very time consuming activity, and it is not surprising that, apart from farmers living close to the forest, most people either cultivate or buy building poles of Eucalyptus, Markhamia or Acacia mearnsii. Cultivation of building poles is the major reason for exotic tree planting in the DTC area (see Table 10) and in Bwamba (Howard, 1991).

BEAN STAKES

Photo 20. Average bean stake density in fields is 50,000 stakes/ha.

Although over 20 varieties of bean are recognized in the DTC area, these are represented by two main growth forms: climbing beans and bush beans. Beans are one of the important staple foods in this region, and they are cultivated in all parishes. Major sites for cultivation of climbing beans are the Rubuguli, Rushaga, Nteko and Nyamabale areas. Climbing beans are more productive, easier to pick than bush beans and reportedly softer and easier to cook, and the DTC project is promoting the production of climbing beans for these good reasons.  Bean stakes are essential for climbing bean production, and cutting of bean stakes is an important seasonal agricultural activity in May and June. With bean stake density of c. 50,000 bean stakes per ha (Photo 20), and lasting only 2-3 seasons, it is clear that huge quantities of bean stakes are needed every year.

The understorey shrub Alchornea hirtella (ekizogwa) is one of the most favoured sources of bean stakes, re-growing readily and occurring in high density patches which are focal points for bean stake harvesting. Despite the high density of this and other species suitable for bean stakes in Afromontane forest (Figure 6), it was nowhere near the density of bean stakes in fields and this survey showed that a high proportion (35-58%) of bean stakes had already been cut. Although bean stakes must all have been cut from forest or forest remnants in the past, many farmers now plant Eucalyptus or Pennisetum purpureum (elephant grass) as a source of stakes. 

Figure 6. Data from four forest plots in the Rushaga area to assess density of stems used for bean stakes, showing the patchy distribution of this resource reflecting variation due to differences in topography, species composition and forest disturbance, from 553 stems in Alchornea (ekizogwa) dominated understorey (Plot 1) to 189 stems in secondary forest with an understorey dominated by Psychotria (Plot 4).

Demand for bean stakes is expected to increase, and this cannot sustainably be met from supplies available within multiple-use areas. It is recommended therefore, that in addition to promoting the cultivation of climbing beans, the DTC project should encourage existing initiatives taken by farmers to cultivate trees and elephant grass for bean stakes, and facilitate cultivation of other tree species (e.g. Sesbania sesban) for this purpose.

Cutting of bean stakes is a labour-intensive activity. Use of plants for bean stakes, although favouring certain species such as Alchornea hirtella (ekizogwa), is based more on selection for sites with high densities of thin (1.5-4 cm diameter), straight stems in order to maximize stakes cut per unit time, than on species-specific selection. 

While a wide range of species (and life forms) is used (Table 11, page 38), favoured sites have a high density of potential bean stakes: either disturbed sites (e.g. scrub dominated by Acanthus arboreus (amatojo) or secondary forest with understorey, dominated by Alchornea hirtella (ekizogwa), where "bean stake density" has been further increased by coppicing, or Brillantaisia stands in river valleys. Similarly, although crop surplus such as cassava (Manihot utilissima) stems are used, cultivated stands of Pennisetum purpureum or Eucalyptus are favoured, as both give almost consistently straight stands of bean stakes of a suitable diameter, and harvesting is quicker and often closer than indigenous forest. 

FUELWOOD

Although the highest consumption of wood in the DTC area is for fuelwood (an estimated 140,000 m³ per year), one DTC survey (Kanongo, 1990) showed that most of this is from cultivated trees and only a small proportion (9 = 7.5%) from the forest. This is supported by field observation and data from Kanongo (1990) that only dry wood is used, as well as the low prices paid for fuelwood in the DTC area.

In common with most rural areas in Africa, fuelwood provides the major source of household energy for cooking and heating in the DTC area (Table 12, page 38). Wood is also used for distilling waragi, and for baking bricks and clay pots. Although certain indigenous species are favoured (Table 13, page 38), crop surplus and cultivated trees (e.g. black wattle Acacia mearnsii, 73% and Eucalyptus, 58%) are the major ources of fuelwood. According to one DTC survey only 7.5% of 120 respondents obtained fuelwood from indigenous forest.

The impact of dead-wood collection is low compared to cutting of livewood for fuel, bean stakes or building materials. National Parks management should consider three options in connection with fuelwood:

1. People living around the forest be allowed to collect dead wood, including dead trees, possibly on a twice weekly basis
2. Collection of fallen dead wood be permitted, but not the felling of dead trees, which provide important nest sites for barbets and hornbills, and feeding sites for woodpeckers.
3. 
   Attention be focussed on providing alternative sources of fuelwood outside the forest, recognizing that dead-wood use from multiple-use zones can only meet a fraction of local needs.