Final Report, Fuelwood Resource Survey of , 2016 –

Final report

Fuelwood Resource Survey

Project Contract Agreement Nr. 074/15/048/GFF

Starting date: 27 JULY, 2015

Date of the report: 28.03. 2016

Prepared for

The food and agriculture organization of the United Nations

Prepared by

Hydrodynamics and Geophysical Survey (Pvt.) Limited

March, 2016

Gampaha District

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Final Report, Fuelwood Resource Survey of Sri Lanka, 2016 – Gampaha District

Table of Contents

No Title Page No Table of content 2 List of Figures 3 List of Tables 4 Abbreviations 5

RESULTS- GAMPAHA DISTRICT 1.0 Background of Gampaha District 06 1.1 Geographical location 07 1.2 Demographic characteristics 11 1.3 Land use and Land cover in Gampaha district 13 1.4 Demographic profile of the study area 13 1.5 Energy use and energy related characteristics of the study area 16 1.6 Sources of fuelwood 17

1.7 Production of fuelwood 20 1.8 Management of different source of fuelwood 21 1.9 Purchasing fuelwood by households 25 1.10 Resources of fuelwood 28 1.11 Knowledge and attitude on fuelwood 30 1.12 Willingness to grow of fuelwood 32 Enterprise Survey Results 1.13 Types of enterprises 33 1.14 Use of energy, Prices, and Supply Chain 33 1.15 Issues and challenges 35

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Final Report, Fuelwood Resource Survey of Sri Lanka, 2016 – Gampaha District

Results of Key Informant and Focus Group Discussion

1.16 Main production source/system 36 1.17 Barriers and strategies for promoting fuelwood growing 37 1.18 Issues arising from commercial supply and Industrial applications Projections of fuelwood potential – Gampaha district 37 1.19 Fuelwood potential of Gampaha district 38 1.20 Land availability 42

List of Figures

No Title Page No 1.1 Location map of Gampaha district 08

1.2 Population distribution by DS Division, Gampaha district 12

1.3 Spatial distribution of household level production of production of 19 fuelwood in Gampaha district 1.4 Percentage households that use different materials of fuelwood 24

1.5 Types of fuelwood available for purchasing and the person who is 27 engaged in purchasing 1.6 Availability of different fuelwood resources for buying in different 27 sources 1.7 Cost of different types of fuelwood available for purchasing 28

1.8 Degree of access to fuelwood by households in Gampaha District 31

1.9 Degree of access to fuelwood during last two years in some selected 31 land use types apparent in Gampaha District 1.10 Distribution of those who are willing to grow fuelwood by different 33 land use type in Gampaha District 1.11 Spatial distribution of the projections of potential for fuelwood under 41 different land use patterns in Gampaha District 1.12 Spatial distribution of the available land that has a potential for 43 growing fuelwood species

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Final Report, Fuelwood Resource Survey of Sri Lanka, 2016 – Gampaha District

List of Tables

No Title Page No 1.1 Climate data for Gampaha district 09

1.2 Population by DS Division in Gampaha district 11

1.3 Land use and land cover in Gampaha district 13

1.4 Age composition by male and female population of sample 14

1.5 Distribution of Sample by Level of Education 15

1.6 Distribution of Home garden by Size 15

1.7 Household energy use by the source of energy and the purpose in 17 Gampaha district 1.8 Different fuelwood sources, monthly average fuelwood collection per 18 household and the proportion of households that utilize different source 1.9 Averageof fuelwood production in Kalutara of fuelwood District and proportion of households engaged 20 in collection of fuelwood by different land use types in Gampaha district 1.10 Frequency of collection of fuelwood from different sources and gender 21 involvement 1.11 Average distance from household to different sources of fuelwood 22

1.12 Time (min) taken to transport fuelwood from various sources to the 22 household 1.13 Fuelwood harvesting method practiced by collectors for different sources 23 of fuelwood 1.14 Purpose of using fuelwood collected by households from different 24 sources of fuelwood 1.15 Percentage of households who purchase fuelwood, per capita household 25 level monthly consumption and monthly expenditure for purchasing 1.16 Frequencyfuelwood in and Kalutara the source District of buying fuelwood in area with different land 26 use patterns 1.17 Composition of tree types available in home gardens in Gampaha district 28

1.18 Composition of the tree species available in the fence of the home 29 gardens in the study area 1.19 Preferred fuelwood species by the uses of fuelwood in Gampaha district 30

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Final Report, Fuelwood Resource Survey of Sri Lanka, 2016 – Gampaha District

1.20 Perception of fuelwood collectors on the access to fuelwood 32

1.21 Fuel wood potential in Gampaha District 39

1.22 Available extents of lands (ha) by land use and DS divisions in Gampaha 42 district for growing fuelwood species

Abbreviations

CDB Coconut Development Board CRI Coconut Research Institute CSD Census and Statistic Department DO Development Officers DOF Department of Forest DSD Divisional Secretarial Division EDB Export Development Board FW Fuelwood GCP Ground Control Points GND Grama Niladhari Division HH Households LU/LC Land use and land cover LUPPD Land Use Policy Planning Division RDD Rubber Development Department RRI Rubber Research Institute TRI Tea Research Institute TSHA Tea Smallholder Authority

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Final Report, Fuelwood Resource Survey of Sri Lanka, 2016 – Gampaha District

1.0 Background of Gampaha District

Earlier the Gampaha District was consist with five Koralas of “Siyane Koralaya”, “Batahira Siyane Koralaya”, “Aluthkuru Koralaya”, “Dakunu aluthkuru Koralaya” and “Hapitigama Koralaya”. The name "Gampaha" in Sinhala literally means “Five Villages”. The five villages are known to be Ihalagama, Pahalagama, Medagama, Pattiyagama and Aluthgama. When Sinhala Kingdom moved to southwest the evidence says that the security zone of kings was the surrounding areas of Gampaha. The main harbour louring Kotte reign was Lagoon. It appears that Negombo and Gampaha become major cities.

However, at present village Pattiyagama cannot be identified within the town limits of Gampaha and remains disputed. Gampaha was also known to be called Henarathgoda in the past. Gampaha is most famous for the Botanical garden where the first rubber tree was planted in Sri Lanka which still remains. It is also the home of the famous Ayurveda Physician Wickremaraachci who produced hundreds of Ayurveda Physicians who came to be known as Ayurveda Physicians of Gampaha. They are still found all over Sri Lanka.

During reign of Portuguese, the main route to the hill country had been laid through the Gampaha area and in the period of Dutch, this area was served as a collecting center of cinnamon. But before year 1815, it is said that Gampaha was a dense forest. The 5th governor of Ceylon, Sir Edward Barnes made a visit to Gampaha in 1825, on the way to observe the construction work of the Negombo-Colombo road. When British built the “Moragoda” Catholic Church in 1828, Gampaha and surrounding areas became inhabitant slowly.

As the extension of the railway track from Colombo to Ambepussa, the Henarathgoda railway station was completed in 1866 which act as a key factor for the progress and recognition of the town. In 1867, the first rubber tree of Sri Lanka was planted in Henarathgoda botanical garden.

The town was planned in 1920, with 52 roads including the main street, a water tank, a public market, a hospital and an electrical generator. Most of these are still present in their original sites with various improvements over time.

Gampaha City is a major city in Gampaha District, Western Province, Sri Lanka. It is situated to the north-east of the capital Colombo. It is the sixth largest urban area in Western Province, after

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Final Report, Fuelwood Resource Survey of Sri Lanka, 2016 – Gampaha District

Colombo, Negombo, Kalutara, Panadura and Avissawella. Gampaha is also the second largest city in the Gampaha district, after Negombo city. According to the facts of central index prepared by urban development authority (UDA), Gampaha city develops around 95% although the population is less than in Negombo. Gampaha city has land area of 25.8 hectares and is home to the offices of 75 government institutions.

1.1 Geographical Location

Gampaha District is located in the west of Sri Lanka and has an area of 1,387 square kilometres (536 sq miles). It is bounded by Kurunegala and Puttalam districts from north, Kegalle District from east, Colombo District from south and by the Indian Ocean from west. The borders of the district are the Maha River on the north, Kelani River on the south and 1,000 ft contour line on the east.

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Final Report, Fuelwood Resource Survey of Sri Lanka, 2016 – Gampaha District

Figure 1.1: Location Map of Gampaha District

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Final Report, Fuelwood Resource Survey of Sri Lanka, 2016 – Gampaha District

Climate

Gampaha has a tropical monsoon climate under the Köppen climate classification. The climate is fairly temperate all throughout the year with a significant rainfall. Even in the driest month there is a significant amount of rain. The driest month is January and there is about 62 mm of precipitation. Most of the precipitation in Gampaha area falls in October, averaging 365 mm. The precipitation varies 303 mm between the driest month and the wettest month. April is warmest month in Gampaha, with an average temperature of 28.4 °C (83.1 °F) and the December is the coldest month, with temperatures averaging 26.1 °C (79 °F). Throughout the year, temperatures vary by 2.3 °C. The annual rain fall in the area is about 2398 mm and the average temperature is about 27.3 °C. The main sources of water canals of Gampaha are Attanagalla Oya and Uruwela Oya.

Table 1.1 Climate data for Gampaha District

Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year Average high °C 30.7 31.8 32.7 32.6 31.5 30.3 30.2 30.4 30.6 30.3 30.4 30.1 32.7 (°F) 87.3 89.2 90.9 90.7 88.7 86.5 86.4 86.7 87.1 86.5 86.7 86.2 90.9 Daily mean °C 26.2 26.8 27.9 28.4 28.3 27.5 27.5 27.6 27.5 26.9 26.5 26.1 27.2 (°F) 79.2 80.2 82.2 83.1 82.9 81.5 81.5 81.7 81.5 80.4 79.7 79 81 Average low °C (°F) 21.7 21.8 23.1 24.2 25.1 24.8 24.8 24.8 24.4 23.6 22.7 22.2 21.7 (°F) 71.1 71.2 73.6 75.6 77.2 76.6 76.6 76.6 75.9 74.5 72.9 72 71.1 Average precipitation mm 62 79 146 255 353 216 134 123 202 365 311 152 2,398 (inches) 2.44 3.11 5.75 10.04 13.9 8.5 5.28 4.84 7.95 14.37 12.24 5.98 94.4 Source: - CLIMATE DATA.ORG

Both monsoons provide almost equal amounts of precipitation. Temperature is almost constant throughout the year, the average being about 27.7 0C. Average daily sunshine is 7.2 hours/day. Average wind velocity is 11.7 km/hour, with the strongest winds coming in June. Wind direction is depending on monsoon wind direction. Relative humidity is, on the average, 73% during the day and 90% at night.

Soil and Agro Ecology

Five major soil types are identified in the district, these being, Regosols, Latosols, Red-Yellow Podzolic soils, Bog nad Half-Bog Soils and Alluvial Soils. The Red-Yellow Podzolic Soils from the major group, with Regosols and Latosols found on the coastal areas and Bog and Half-Bog soils adjacent to the Muthurajawela swamp. Alluvial Soils are present along the rivers and streams of the district. The district includes four agro ecological regions, WL 2, WL 3, WL 4

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Final Report, Fuelwood Resource Survey of Sri Lanka, 2016 – Gampaha District and IL, in the northern regions. These regions are constituted on the basis of rainfall, soils and topography.

Geology

The Eastern highland series, South Western group and the Northern Vijayan Series are all represent in the district. The Eastern highland series, found on the Eastern half of the district consists of cordierite-garnet biotite gneiss, undifferentiated meta-sedimentary rock, quartzite and charnokites. The South Western group consists of granite and a small area of pink granite. The northern Vijayan series is found as a small north-south strip on either side of the Maha Oya. This consists of biotite and hornblend gneiss with pink feldspaer.

Drainage Pattern

The drainage in the area is affected by three rivers, Kelani, Attanagalu oya and Maha oya of which Kelani river is along the southern boundary and Maha oya is to the northern boundary with Attanagalu oya running through the middle. Two detention reservoirs have been built on tributaries of Kelani river, at Labugama and Kalatuwawa, to supply water to the city of Colombo. This supply is augmented by the direct draw off from the Kelani river at Ambatale. Water service to the Gampaha township is from Attanagalu oya which also has ten irrigation schemes collectively referred to as the Attanagalu oya irrigation project. Drainage is generally poor in the areas served by Attanagalu oya and Kelani river but is very satisfactory in area adjacent to Maha oya as the maha oya river bed is at a much lower elevation than the surrounding land.

Mineral Resources

There is a considerable amount of sand being harvested in all the three rivers in the district and certain experts have opined that this sand harvesting would lead coastal recession in the future and also to changes of the regimes in the estuaries. However exhaustive studies are necessary to determine the effect of sand harvesting as well as to find alternative construction material. Crushed rock aggregate production is also another well-established industry.

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Final Report, Fuelwood Resource Survey of Sri Lanka, 2016 – Gampaha District

1.2 Demographic Characteristics

When it comes to Gampaha district it has the second highest population as well as population density of Sri Lanka. Total population based on 2012 census is 2,294,641 which is 11.32% of the total population of Sri Lanka. 90.61% of total population consists with Sinhalese and 71.48% of population consists with Buddhists. Being a highly developing area it attract more people which increases the population growth as well. According to the census of population and housing in 2001, average annual growth rate of from 1981 to 2001 is 1.9.

Table 1.2 Population by DS divisions, Gampaha District from 2001 to 2011 DS Division Population 2001 Population in 2011 Change

Attanagalla 154,967 179,565 24,598 Biyagama 161,300 186,585 25,285 Divulapitiya 128,048 144,506 16,458 Dompe 130,021 154,005 23,984 Gampaha 171,040 197,667 26,627 Ja-Ela 184,666 201,521 16,855 Katana 222,683 235,291 12,608 Kelaniya 134,364 137,339 2,975 Mahara 176,870 207,782 30,912 151,661 178,331 26,670 Mirigama 143,663 164,580 20,917 Negombo 144,274 142,136 -2,138 Wattala 160,127 175,525 15,398 Gampaha District 2,063,684 2,304,833 241,149 Source: Department of Census and Statistics

In both census years Katana has the highest population whilst in 2001 Ja-Ela has the second highest and in 2011 Mahara Divisional Secretariat Division. Therefore the highest population increase is also recorded in Mahara DS division and Attanagalla, Biyagama, Gampaha and Minuwangoda indicate more than 24000 increases within the decade. Kelaniya DS division has the lowest number of increase and Negambo indicates a declining trend of population with a value of -2138 from 2001 to 2011 period.

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Final Report, Fuelwood Resource Survey of Sri Lanka, 2016 – Gampaha District

Figure 1.2: Population Distribution by DS Divisions – Gampaha District

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Final Report, Fuelwood Resource Survey of Sri Lanka, 2016 – Gampaha District

1.3 Land use and Land cover in Gampaha District

The prominent land use of Gampaha District is Home hardens followed by Coconut and Paddy. However, home gardens represent more than 50 per cent of the total land area of the district whilst Coconut and Paddy cover another 26 per cent of the total land area (Table 1.3).

Table 1.3: Land use and land cover in Gampaha District Land use Extent (Ha.) Percentage Non-Agricultural Built up areas 9446.31 6.81 Lands Agricultural Lands Home gardens 77042.91 55.56 Tea 0.16 0.00 Rubber 4266.86 3..08 Coconut 18636.39 13.44 Paddy 18676.57 13.47 Other field crops 712.49 0.51 Chena 0.00 0.00 Forest Lands Forest 995.04 0.72 Forest Plantation 1243.36 0.89 Scrub 0.00 0.00 Water bodies 4735.68 3.42 Other (Marsh, Mangroves, Roads, Rivers Etc.) 2923.33 2.10 Total 138670.00 100.00 Source: Land Use Policy Planning Department

This part of the report basically covers the survey results extracted/generated from different tools and techniques implemented in Gampaha District pertaining to fuelwood resources. These tools were formulated and designed based on the Terms of Reference (TOR) and the project objectives. This part comprises of five sub sections relating to the study area; Demographic profile, Energy use and energy related characteristics, Energy users and Enterprises, Potentials for fuelwood and Land availability for fuelwood production.

1.4 Demographic Profile of the study area

The demographic aspects/composition of any region is directly influenced for any sort of development activities, especially labour intensive rural area based projects. The proposed fuelwood enrichment project basically targeted on rural areas of the country. Therefore, this section of the report has drawn the attention for the demographic composition of Gampaha district under four sub sections which are very relevant to the project objectives. They are respectively; i). male/female dichotomy of the population, ii). age composition iii). level of education, iv). home gardens and plot sizes.

The household survey conducted in Gampaha district covers around 2,272 people in selected GN divisions and household heads accounts for 22 per cent of the total persons. Both males and

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Final Report, Fuelwood Resource Survey of Sri Lanka, 2016 – Gampaha District females are almost equally distributed in the sample (Table 1.4). In terms of age profile, nearly 26 per cent of the total population is below 19 years while 71 per cent of the total is below 50 years indicating Gampaha district is yet experienced demographic transition which is similar to the situation in Kalutara District (Table 1.4).

Table 1.4: Age composition by male and female population of the sample population in Gampaha District

Age Group Male Female Total No % No % No % 0-9 133 11.83 146 12.72 279 12.28 10-19 154 13.70 157 13.68 311 13.69 20-29 223 19.84 169 14.72 392 17.25 30-39 174 15.48 162 14.11 336 14.79 40-49 138 12.28 164 14.29 302 13.29 50-59 141 12.54 180 15.68 321 14.13 60> 161 14.32 170 14.81 331 14.57 Total 1,124 1,148 2,272 100.00 Source: Fuelwood Assessment Survey, 2015

This reflects the fact that the sample consists of relatively young people which can accept the innovative ideas and can be contributed for labour requirement of the area. In terms of marital status, married persons account for over 58 per cent of the sample population. The sample consists of people whose educational achievements remain high. For instance, there was no one in the sample who had not studied at all while only about five per cent of the sample left schooling without pursuing beyond grade five. Over 74 per cent of the total sample population has passed GCE O/L and four per cent passed GCE A/L. Hence, over 80 per cent of the total have either GCE O/L or A/L has passed. There are around five persons, a .3% 0f the total sample who have completed a degree (Table 1.5). Relatively a higher level of education has few implications relating to fuelwood growing. Firstly, it indicates that it is relatively easy for policy makers to educate people on the benefits of fuelwood growing. Secondly, it could be relatively difficult to pursue people to engage in fuelwood growing type agricultural activity since they may have higher expectation with regard to employment. Finally, they may expect higher returns given the level of education and most part of the district being urbanized or semi-urbanized.

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Final Report, Fuelwood Resource Survey of Sri Lanka, 2016 – Gampaha District

Table 1.5: Distribution of Sample by Level of Education in Gampaha District

Level of Education Number Percentage Cumulative Percentage No Schooling - - - Grade 1 - 5 82 4.72 4.72 Grade 6 - 10 272 15.65 20.37 O/L Passed 1,303 74.97 95.34 A/L Passed 76 4.37 99.71 Degree and above 5 0.29 100.00 Total 1738 100.00 Source: Fuelwood Assessment Survey, 2015

In terms of labour market status, nearly 26 per cent of persons work as employees while around 46 per cent remains economically inactive. Unemployed population accounts for just 6 per cent of the total persons surveyed. One of the reasons for high economically inactive people is that a greater number of working age people pursues higher studies in full time. Own account workers accounts for 11 per cent. Only nine people from the total sample are unemployed in the area.

Household level information reveals that the people in this area live with reasonable level of comfort at houses. The comfort at the house is reflected through number of rooms, construction materials, and ownership status. For instance over 75 per cent of houses cover more than 250 square feet of floor area. Similarly, nearly 21 per cents of houses are constructed using brick, cabook or cement blocks. Nearly 42 per cent of the total houses either constructed by owners or inherited.

In terms of land ownership, size of the home gardens of nearly 76 per cents of the households are less than one-fourth of acreage while nearly 11 per cent of the households owning more than half an acre. Very few (only four households) own home garden sizing over two acres (Table 1.6). The smaller land sizes of home gardens can be can be viewed as a consequence of the dense population and urbanization apparent in Gamapaha District

Table 1.6: Distribution of Home garden by Size

Plot size (Acreage) Number Percentage Cumulative Frequency Less than 0.25 386 76.74 76.74 0.25 – 0.5 58 11.53 88.27 0.5 – 0.75 13 2.58 90.85 0.75 – 1.0 20 3.98 94.83 1.0 – 2.0 22 4.37 99.20 Over 2.0 4 0.8 100.00 Total 503 100.0 Source: Fuelwood Assessment Survey, 2015

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Final Report, Fuelwood Resource Survey of Sri Lanka, 2016 – Gampaha District

It was further observed that size of the home garden was apparently higher in the DS divisions where urbanization was seemingly low. By ownership, it is evident that in most household, male own the home garden though women engage in home garden related cleaning and production activities. Home gardens are in most cases legally owned by the household owners while there some number of homewards with permit and encroached. The composition in most homewards consists of timber and food, accounting nearly 85 per cent of home gardens. Out of the total households, 3 per cent of total households own a paddy land while 81 household own a tree-crop land.

Owning relatively a smaller home garden poses challenges to promote fuelwood growing in home garden which was reflected by hardly any households were willing to accept growing fuelwood in their home gardens.

1.5 Energy use and energy related characteristics of Gampaha District

Different source of energy and their uses at households in Gampaha District is given in the Table 1.7. It can be clearly noticed that energy use at households mainly depends on four sources viz. electricity, gas, fuelwood and kerosene. Actually this is quite different from the Kalutara district situation. It can be noticed that use of electricity and gas has dominated throughout activities purposes viz. cocking, lighting and operating various appliances used in households which can be expected in a District like Gampaha being an urbanized area. However, fuelwood plays a vital role in cooking and producing hot water followed by use of gas, electricity and kerosene. Relatively high use of fuelwood and charcoal (from coconut shells) for cooking and hot water producing can be understandable since households may tend to use them in order to reduce the cost incurred on electricity and gas.

It is interesting to notice that 3.2 % of the households use solar power as an energy source for lighting. High use of kerosene for lighting was observed in the rural areas of the District. However, it is quite difficult at this stage to understand what drive alternative energy uses and the rate of substitution among alternative energy sources. A Multinomial Logistic regression framework could shed valuable insight into those information areas. Such information is imperative in determining policy alternatives. Hence, it is recommended to conduct detailed and rigorous analysis before making policy recommendations.

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Final Report, Fuelwood Resource Survey of Sri Lanka, 2016 – Gampaha District

Table 1.7: Household energy use by the source of energy and the purpose in Gampaha district

Energy Source Purpose/Usage (Values are in percentage) Cooking Commercial Heating/ Hot Lighting Appliances Cooking Drying water Fuelwood 79.0 0.4 0.0 77.4 0.2 0.2 Forest Residues 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.0 0.0 0.0 Agric. residues 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.2 0.0 Charcoal 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 Kerosene 13.2 0.0 0.1 13.1 65.2 0.1 Gas 78.4 0.0 0.2 14.0 1.7 1.6 Solar power 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 3.2 0.8 Electricity 43.5 0.2 0.0 10. 85.8 91.8 Source: Fuelwood Assessment Survey, 2015 Note: As there are some combine usages total exceed hundred

1.6 Sources of fuelwood

In this context, the sources of fuelwood have defined as the places where fuelwood is generated. In the local setting, potential for fuelwood could be variable due to many reasons which should be clearly understood especially during the planning and management purposes pertaining to sustainable use of fuelwood as an energy source.

It has been identified through the field survey that there are seven (07) fuelwood sources in Gampaha district and three of them are very prominent throughout the district. About 49% of the households found to be engaged in collection of fuelwood in Gampaha district which quite low that of in Kalutara. In terms of proportion of fuelwood collecting households, the main source of the fuelwood used at households is from home gardens (48%) followed by saw mills (30.9%) and tree crop plantations (14.5%). Though other sources are in the second position, it has not been considered as second as that is mixed of different sources. However, reserved lands, state forests and mixed and crop plantations have insignificant proportions whilst fallowed fields and forest plantations show zero contribution (Table 1.8). This might be partly due to the fact that there is a low amount of forest cover in the area which have been mostly protect by the law. On the other hand, people may have refrained from using these sources since the demand for noncommercial fuelwood in Gampaha seemed very low.

Relatively a large collection from Natural Forest indicates potential challenges to create a market for fuelwood. It may be possible that households increase the use of forest for fuelwood collection, whenever it is feasible, for selling and home consumption provided there is a good price for fuelwood. However, this situation is not apparently observed in Gamapaha District. Compared to the proportion uses and monthly production, saw mills can be recognizes as the major source that supply fuelwood in Gamapaha District. It could be viewed as a consequence of

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Final Report, Fuelwood Resource Survey of Sri Lanka, 2016 – Gampaha District the availability of respective source and easy access to the sawmills. Although about 50% of the households uses home garden as a source of fuelwood total volume produced is second to the sawmills since monthly collection of fuelwood from home garden is less than half that of the sawmills. It might be interesting to study further the behavior in fuelwood supply based on sawmills to understand its economics on the fuelwood market.

In contrast to Kalutara district, it can be noticed that fuelwood sources in Gamapaha district has switched form more natural sources to manmade artificial sources which may be viewed as a consequence of urbanization. This is an interesting fact that should be considered in supply chain analysis of fuelwood and establishment of fuelwood deports.

Table 1.8: Different fuelwood sources, monthly average fuelwood collection per household and the proportion of households that utilize different source of fuelwood in Gampaha District

Source Mean SEM Trimmed Proportion SD of p (kg/month) mean (p) Home Garden 47.87 47.87 31.59 0.480 0.0012 Saw Mills 101.60 76.92 255.05 0.309 0.0016 Tree Crop Plantation 95.11 72.02 189.09 0.145 0.0019 Other lands 134.33 103.55 149.15 0.048 0.0022 Reserved Land 75.00 75.00 28.87 0.009 0.0023 State Forest 108.33 108.33 14.43 0.007 0.0023 Mixed Crop Plantation 100.00 100.00 0.00 0.002 0.0023 Forest Planation - - - - - Fallowed Land - - - - - SEM-Standard Error of Mean, P – proportion of Fuelwood collecting households, SD- Standard Deviation; Note: Data has been sorted in ascending order based on proportion values. Source: Fuelwood Assessment Survey, 2015

It is also important to know what determine the amount of collection in forecasting future demand patterns with respect to fuelwood use. There may be several factors that determine the amount collected ranging from socio-economic to rate of substitution between work and leisure. The traditional labour supply model often shows how household members allocate time among alternative purposes such as farming, water collection, fuelwood collection, attending social event, and leisure. Such decisions are often taken after considering the marginal utility/benefit and marginal costs of engaging in tasks. Further, amount collected is also influenced by the technical substitution of energy use at household level – consumption and production, as well as in the general economic environment. A rigorous analysis on amount collected and method of collection may provide valuable information on estimating future fuelwood extraction so that it is possible to calculate to what extend fuelwood availability will be used at household level.

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Final Report, Fuelwood Resource Survey of Sri Lanka, 2016 – Gampaha District

Spatial variation of fuelwood collection by household at Grama Niladhari level in Gamapaha district is given in Figure 1.3. However these are estimated (Interpolated) values based on the sample data collected though the household survey.

Figure 1.3 Spatial distribution of the household level production of production of fuelwood in Gampaha district

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Final Report, Fuelwood Resource Survey of Sri Lanka, 2016 – Gampaha District

Spatial distribution of fuelwood collection may be driven by several factors. Among them, the availability of sources and resources as well as socio-economic condition in a given geography may play key roles. However, it is imperative to know to what extend these and other factors affect the variation in fuelwood collection by GN division. A decomposition analysis may help in identifying „endowment effect‟ and „price effect‟ of spatial variation in fuelwood collection. It might also be important to know how people keep changing the sources of collection against the amount of collection. however, such analysis is beyond the scope of the present study.

1.7 Production of Fuelwood

This section examines fuelwood production by type of land uses categories in Gampaha district (Table 1.9). Some of the aspects viz. production by different sources and spatial distribution of total amount of fuelwood collected in a month by a unit of household have been discussed. Based on the sample survey, 49% of the households in Gampaha tends to collect fuelwood. However, more than 75% of the households in collects fuelwood in areas where coconut, scrubs, chena, forests and rubber can be identifies as the prominent land use. Moreover, monthly exploitation of fuelwood can be seen at a high rate which indicate either high volumes of fuelwood is used at households or they are collected for selling. Proportion of those who collect fuelwood is less than or equal to 40 in area where homesteads, paddy and built ups are recognized as main land use which accounts for more than 50% of both the total land area and total number of households in the district. The rates of exploitation of fuelwood also remain at low figures in these areas. Further, it seems that households located in built up areas in the district don not collect fuelwood since there may be hardly any fuelwood sources in the proximity. This eventually indicates that production potentials of fuelwood in Gampaha district seems to be at a low level. Table 1.9: Average production of fuelwood and proportion of households engaged in collection of fuelwood by different land use types in Gampaha district Land Use Mean (kg/month) SEM p SD of p Built ups 0 0.0 0.00 - Marsh 20 4.65 0.67 0.028 Paddy 62 20.9 0.35 0.025 Homesteads 78 8.55 0.40 0.002 Rubber 168 53.6 0.85 0.012 Forests 194 33.8 1.00 - Chena 348 105.0 1.00 - Scrub 460 124.0 0.75 0.021 Coconut 615 223.0 0.78 0.003 Other 674 415.0 0.69 0.020 Mean- mean amount of fuelwood collected by household (kg/month), SEM-Standard Error of Mean, p – proportion of Fuelwood collecting households, SD- Standard Deviation Note: Data has been sorted in ascending order based on mean values Source: Fuelwood Assessment Survey, 2015

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Final Report, Fuelwood Resource Survey of Sri Lanka, 2016 – Gampaha District

1.8 Management of different source of fuelwood

It is very important to understand the current use and the management of different sources of fuelwood before any intervention going to be made in fuelwood production. In this context, based on the survey, frequency of fuelwood collection, distance to different sources, time taken to harvest, harvesting method, materials harvested and purpose of harvesting have been considered as the aspects of management.

Frequency of collection, distance to the source and transport time

Frequency of fuelwood collection by the gender from different sources is given in Table 1.10 while average distance to the respective sources from their household is given in Table 1.11. Mostly the females are engaged in collection of fuelwood from home gardens. However, when it comes to the distantly located sources such as saw mills, man‟s involvement in collecting fuelwood has increased. However in general women‟s involvement in fuelwood collection is rather high in Gamapaha district compared to that of in Kalutara. district.

Table 1.10: Frequency of collection of fuelwood from different sources and gender involvement Source of Frequency of collection* fuelwood Male Female Both 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 Home garden 6 4 - - - 31 25 - - - 14 19 - - - State Forest ------Forest ------Plantation fallowed Land ------Tree Crop 0 10 3 2 - - 21 8 2 2 5 15 19 15 - Plantation Reserved Land ------33 - - - - 33 33 - Saw Mills 4 8 4 28 3 4 3 6 30 3 1 - 1 2 Other lands 24 6 6 - - 53 6 - 0 6 - - - - - * 1 – Daily, 2 – Weekly, 3 – once In two weeks, 4 – monthly, 5 – once in two or more months. Note: Cell values are in percentages Source: Fuelwood Assessment Survey, 2015

As stated in Table 1.11, state forests are on the average distantly located which is used by 1% of the sample. However the gender involvement in fuelwood collection from estate forests was not revealed during the survey. Since state forests are protected under the forest law, it was observed during the survey that people are reluctant to reveal the accurate information about fuelwood harvesting from state forests. Frequency of collection was observed to be high in home garden where frequency of collection tends to be lower for remotely located sources of fuelwood.

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Final Report, Fuelwood Resource Survey of Sri Lanka, 2016 – Gampaha District

Table 1.11: Average distance from household to different sources of fuelwood District Distance to different Source of fuelwood (meters) Home State Tree crop Forest Fallowed Reserved Mixed saw Other gardens forests plantations plantations fields lands farms mills sources

Gampaha 214 700 85 - - 112 - 222 40.9 (70.9) (1.73) (136.4) - - (25.0) - (404.9) (49.5) Note: All distances are in meters. The values within parentheses are slandered errors of mean (SEM) Source: Fuelwood Assessment Survey, 2015

Time (min) taken to transport fuelwood to the household from different sources is given in Table 1.12. The longest time (about 1 hour and 50 min) taken transport fuelwood is from unidentified sources that are coming under the other sources which may be located fare away from the households. Time taken to transport fuelwood from tree crop plantations and sawmills were comparatively high that were respectively 85 min and 55 min. Although some people collect fuelwood from estate forests and reserved lands, the time taken to transport fuelwood was not revealed. It was observed that fuelwood from home gardens are collected fast which is quite understandable. Low variability associated with average time take to collect fuelwood from home gardens and saw mills, most frequent and commonly used sources in Gampaha indicate that respective sources are located in less variable distances. High variabilities associated with average distance and time taken to transport fuelwood indicates that particular resources are not much common and located at variable distances from the households.

Table 1.12 Time (min) taken to transport fuelwood from various sources to the household District Source Home State Tree crop Forest Fallowed Reserved Mixed saw Other gardens forests plantations plantations fields lands farms mills sources Gampaha 15 - 85.9 - - - - 55.2 110 (6.8) - (136.4) - - - - (5.8) (73.7) Note: All values are presented in minutes. Values within parenthesis are standard error of the mean (SEM)

Fuelwood harvesting methods used by the collector for different sources of fuelwood apparent in the study are given in Table 1.13. Regardless of the source, commonly practiced harvesting methods are pruning and collection of dried and fallen parts of the trees (residues) that are respectively 54.1 and 53.9 as percentages of the population of fuelwood collectors. Both pruning and residues have become prominent fuelwood harvesting technique in home gardens. Second best option was off cuts, which accounts 23.6% from the saw mills. Cutting trees for fuelwood is very limitedly practiced by collectors in the study area which about 1.8% of the total collectors of fuelwood (Table 1.13). It can be noticed that collection of only dried parts is practiced in state

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Final Report, Fuelwood Resource Survey of Sri Lanka, 2016 – Gampaha District forests and reserved lands which indicate that fuelwood collectors properly adhere to the regulations enacted on state forest and reserved lands.

Table 1.13: Fuelwood harvesting method practiced by collectors for different sources of fuelwood in Gampaha District Source Harvesting method Residues1 Pruning Cutting Off cuts Home gardens 41.4 40.5 1.1 - State forests 0.7 0.0 0.0 - Tree crop plantations 9.5 8.6 0.7 - Forest plantations - - - - Fallowed fields - - - - Reserved lands 0.9 0.0 0.0 - Mixed farms 0.0 0.2 0.0 - saw mills 1.4 0.0 0.0 23.6 Other sources 0.0 4.8 0.0 - Overall 53.9 54.1 1.8 23.6 1Residues are defined as the dried wood parts (twigs, branches etc.) generated or either fallen from the trees the source. Note: Cell values are in percentages Source: Fuelwood Resource Survey, 2015

It is required to carry out a detailed study in fuelwood harvesting methods practices at household level in order to (a) make it sustainable, (b) maximize the production, and (c) make it environmental friendly. The harvesting method may be determined by several socio-economic factors such as opportunity costs, type of species, quality of species, land-ownership, labour availability, and level of difficulty. It is imperative to understand what influence most in practicing a given method in diffident land use types. A regression framework could valuable insights in understanding these information. Hence, it is highly recommended to conduct a detailed analysis in order to identify policy options for rationalizing harvesting methods at household level under the overall objective of maximizing fuelwood production for industrial use.

Materials collected as fuelwood

Different plant parts collected by the households are depicted in Figure 1.4. Twigs are collected by 89% of the households while branches and tree logs are collected respectively by 61% and 4% of the households. A 37%, 10% and 0.5% households respectively use twigs, branches and logs exclusively. It is quite obvious that the household sector largely depends on twigs and branches indicating the potential for industrial sector to use the stem, if not used as timber. Difficulties in handling stem and large branches may be one of the reasons for not using the stem

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Final Report, Fuelwood Resource Survey of Sri Lanka, 2016 – Gampaha District at household-level. In addition, opportunity costs may also plays a key role in limiting to twigs and branches. This reflects the fact that it is quite easier for the industrial sector to use stem without disrupting the fuelwood use at household level. Further, it is also possible to promote growing fuelwood for home consumption since twigs and branches could be harvested with short time span.

Branches 10.0% 49.5% Twigs 36.5% 1.0% 0% 2.1%

0.5% Logs

Figure 1.4 Percentage households that use different materials of fuelwood Purpose for fuelwood collection Purpose of fuelwood collection by different sources is reported in Table 1.14. 48% out of the fuelwood collectors from home gardens, 99% is used for cocking. Similarly the majority of fuelwood collected from all the other sources are primarily used for cooking. Minor portion of fuelwood collected from home gardens and tree crop plantations (1% and 3% respectively) are sold by the collectors. 15% of the collected fuelwood from sawmills and other sources are used for some industrial activities centered at households. Table 1.14: Purpose of using fuelwood collected by households from different sources Source Proportion of Proportion of collectors by purpose of use collectors Cooking Selling Industry Home gardens 48 99 1 0 State forests 1 100 0 0 Tree crop plantations 15 97 3 0 Forest plantations - - - - Fallowed fields - - - - Reserved lands 1 100 0 0 Mixed farms - - - - Saw mills 31 85 0 15 Other sources 5 85 0 15 Overall 49 94 1 5 Source: Fuelwood Assessment Survey, 2015 Note: Cell values are given in percentages

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Final Report, Fuelwood Resource Survey of Sri Lanka, 2016 – Gampaha District

In general, it can be inferred that 94% collected fuelwood can be categorized as noncommercial fuelwood while 6% of them fall under commercial fuelwood. In recent years, according to field notes and observations, many household-based industries switched into Electricity and Gas due to higher opportunity costs of using fuelwood. It is expected that, other than in few rural households, remaining household-based industrial gradually replacing electricity and/or gas.

1.9 Purchasing fuelwood by households

Based on the sample household survey, 74% of households in the sample use fuelwood at household for some purpose out of which 47% meet their requirement of fuelwood through purchasing. Percentage of households who purchase fuelwood, their per capita household level monthly consumption and monthly expenditure on fuelwood in the surveyed area are given in Table 1.15. In Gampaha District, about 40% households in built up areas purchase fuelwood for various purposes. Highest average amount of fuelwood purchased by a household in a month (294kg) was reported in areas where paddy is the major land use.

Table 1.15: Percentage of households who purchase fuelwood, per capita household level monthly consumption and monthly expenditure for purchasing fuelwood in Gampaha District Land use Buyers Amount Cost (kg/month/household) (LKR/month/household) Barren - - - - - Built Ups 40% 100.0 (0.0) 284.8 (37.7) Coconut 20% 141.7 (56.9) 1877.8 (2157.2) Forest - - - - - Homesteads 46% 176.1 (500.7) 1273.9 (3021.4) Marsh 46% 166.7 (51.6) 970.0 (419.9) Other 19% 133.3 (57.7) 1436.7 (1345.4) Paddy 31% 293.8 (348.9) 1550.0 (1157.6) Rubber - - - - - Scrub - - - - - Tea - - - - - Values within parenthesis are standard error of the mean (SEM) Source: Fuelwood Resource Survey, 2015

Frequency and sources of buying

Frequency and the source of burying fuelwood by households in area with different land uses in Gampaha district are given in Table 1.16. Based on the survey data, most of the households buy fuelwood on monthly basis in all areas. However, in paddy prominent areas, 55% of those who purchase fuelwood do it on weekly basis. It can be noticed that fuelwood is mostly purchased from the nearby vendors and also through a delivered system. In the surveyed sample, it was

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Final Report, Fuelwood Resource Survey of Sri Lanka, 2016 – Gampaha District found that there is a mode of delivery for fuelwood to the households in built up areas which should be subjected to further investigation.

Table 1.16: Frequency and the source of buying fuelwood in area with different land use patterns

Land use Frequency of buying Source of buying Daily Twice Weekly Monthly Delivered Nearby Market a week vender Barren ------Built Ups 25.0 12.5 12.5 50.0 100.0 0.0 0.0 Coconut 0.0 5.3 15.8 78.9 38.9 61.1 0.0 Forest ------Homesteads 11.3 5.0 10.6 73.0 38.8 60.4 0.7 Marsh 0.0 16.7 33.3 50.0 100.0 0.0 0.0 Other 0.0 33.3 0.0 66.7 0.0 100.0 0.0 Paddy 0.0 11.1 55.6 33.3 25.0 87.5 0.0 Rubber ------Scrub ------Tea ------Source: Fuelwood Resource Survey, 2015 Note: Cell values are given in percentages

Types of fuelwood available for purchasing

Types of fuelwood available for purchasing and the person who is engaged in purchasing are illustrated in figure 1.5. Based on the survey results both males and females in the households are equally engaged in purchasing fuelwood. Cut and splits are the most commonly available resources of fuelwood for buying for the households. About 21% of the fuelwood available for selling is small bundles and small branches. Availability of roots and large splits as fuelwood in the market is minimum.

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Final Report, Fuelwood Resource Survey of Sri Lanka, 2016 – Gampaha District

Roots 0.5%

Cut & split 77%

Large splits 0.5% Male Female

Small bundles 11%

Small branches 10%

0 20 40 60 80

Figure 1.5 Types of fuelwood available for purchasing and the person who is engaged in purchasing

Following figure (Figure 1.6) depicts the availability of different fuelwood resources for buying in different sources. It can be noticed that cut logs and sawdust are not available to purchase from the sources as depicted in Figure 1.6. Based on the results of the survey, 40% of the households get fuelwood delivered while 59% buy fuelwood from nearby vender. Very few (0.6%) buy fuelwood from market.

All 40.0% 59.4% 0.6%

Cut loggs

Cut & Splits 48.2% 51.1% 0.7%

Large splits 100.0% Delivered

Roots 100.0% Nearby Vender Market Sawdust

small branches 27.8% 72.2%

Small bundles 100.0%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Figure 1.6 Availability of different fuelwood resources for buying in different sources

Cost of different types of fuelwood available for purchasing is given in Figure 1.7. The highest selling price was reported for cut and splits which was the common type fuelwood available for

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Final Report, Fuelwood Resource Survey of Sri Lanka, 2016 – Gampaha District purchasing in Gampaha district. Meanwhile the minimum price recorded for small branches and roots. Even though selling share of large splits were least, the cost of large splits were only

second to cut and splits indicating its availability in the fuelwood market is minimum.

12.00 10.00 8.00 6.00 4.00 2.00

0.00

Fuel wood price (LKR/ Kg) (LKR/ price woodFuel

Roots

Cut logs Cut

Sawdust

Large splits Large

Large wood Large

Cut and splits and Cut

Small bundles Small Small branches Small Types of fuelwood available to purchase

Figure 1.7 Cost of different types of fuelwood available for purchasing 1.10 Resources of fuelwood

In this context, mainly refer to the species from which fuel wood can be extracted. Composition of the available tree species in the home gardens and its fennecs and tree species preferred for fuelwood were examined during the survey.

Composition of tree types available in home gardens in Gampaha district is given in Table 1.17 which can be regarded as potential resources for fuelwood. Coconut, Mango, Rambutan, Jack, and Tabili were found as mostly available woody tree types in the home gardens.

Table 1.17: Composition of tree types available in home gardens in Gampaha district

Tree type RF Tree type RF Tea 0.14 Dadun 0.07 Rubber 1.61 Kenda 1.47 Coconut 26.47 Hora 0.14 Cinnamen 0.07 Other 0.77 Coffee 0.42 Mangus 0.07 Jack 14.11 lovi 0.07 Rabutan 14.59 Naran 0.21 Mango 20.53 Sapu 0.07

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Final Report, Fuelwood Resource Survey of Sri Lanka, 2016 – Gampaha District

Cloves 0.07 Kottamba 0.14 Del 0.7 Bilin 0.07 Mahogani 1.33 Kaluwara 0.07 Alipera/Pera 1.61 Duriyan 0.63 Diyapara/para 0.07 tekka 1.61 Weralu 0.21 Tabili 6.91 Dawata 0.14 Acteriya 0.42 Puwak 0.21 Jambu 0.77 Kohoba 0.28 Milla 0.07 Giniseeriya 0.35 Aatha 0.07 Ginikura 0.42 Lunumidella 0.7 Mara 0.35 Kaju 1.75 Naminan 0.21 Source: Fuelwood Resource Survey, 2015 Note: Cell values are in percentages

Composition of the tree species available in the fence of the home gardens in the study are is given in Table 1.18. Accordinly, Mara, Tekka, and Giniseeriya are also apparently available in the fences.

Table 1.18: Composition of the tree species available in the fence of the home gardens in the study area

Tree type RF Mara 17 Tekka 5 Giniseeriya 3 Rubber 1 Jack 1 Rabutan 1 Puwak 1 Acteriya 1 Other 1 Ginisapu 1 Source: Fuelwood Resource Survey, 2015 Note: Cell value are in percentages

Survey reveals that the species listed in Table 1.19 as most preferred tree types for fuelwood. It is revealed that around 47% of respondents indicated cocnut as the most preferred species for fuelwood followed by rubber, cinnamon, and mahogany respectively as good tree species for fuelwood.

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Table 1.19: Preferred fuelwood species by the uses in Gampaha District

Preferred species Preference Coconut 46.81 Rubber 39.82 Cinnamen 4.26 Mahogani 1.82 Mango 1.82 tekka 1.52 Jack 1.22 Rabutan 1.22 Kaju 0.61 Sapu 0.61 Ginikura 0.3 Source: Fuelwood Resource Survey, 2015 Note: Cell values are in percentages

1.11 Knowledge and attitude on fuelwood

During the survey attention has been given for household level awareness and attitudes on various aspects related to fuelwood viz. access to sources and resources of fuelwood, perceptions on fuelwood collection, and conflicts during fuelwood collection and attitudes on planting fuelwood tree species.

Access to fuelwood sources and resources

The degree of hardness to access to fuelwood in Gampaha district is depicted in the following figure (Figure 1.8). It indicates considering past ten years, distribution of the degree of hardness to access to fuelwood has been unimodal which further depicts that the access statues have remained mostly unchanged. However, as far as past two years are concerned, the distribution of the same has become bimodal. These indicate that a group of households has easy access to fuelwood while access to fuelwood by another set of households has become more difficult.

However it can be seen that access to fuelwood in last two years seems hard in built up area, marsh, and other landuse type areas of which the scenario is depicted in Figure 1.9. However for areas under other land use, the pattern depicted in Figure 1.8 remained unchanged.

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Final Report, Fuelwood Resource Survey of Sri Lanka, 2016 – Gampaha District

Last two year Last ten year 50 45 40 35

30 25 20 15 10 Percentage 5 0 Much easier Easier No change Difficult More difficult Degree of hardness to access

Figure 1.8 Degree of access to fuelwood by households in Gampaha District

Builtups Chena Coconut Forest Homesteads Marsh Other Paddy Rubber Scrub 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 1 2 3 4 5 Degree of hardness to acess

Figure 1.9 Degree of access to fuelwood during last two years in some selected land use types apparent in Gampaha District

Perceptions on the access expressed by informants of the survey are illustrated in Table 1.20. About 78.2% of the informants have expressed their views in favor of the difficulty of the access to fuelwood while about 22% of them have expressed their views for the easy access to fuelwood in Gampaha district. It is quite clear from the graphs and the table on the perception towards collecting fuelwood that households have found it difficult to access to fuelwood. This may be

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Final Report, Fuelwood Resource Survey of Sri Lanka, 2016 – Gampaha District due to several factors such as land conversion, land segmentation, increasing competition from the industrial sector and timber sectors, and poor management of sources. However, it is imperative to find out what causes the difficulty, within a sectoral or macro-level study, since possibility is quite high that the industrial sector also experiences the same if present status quo continue without policy intervention.

Table 1.20: Perception of fuelwood collectors on the access to fuelwood

Comment Frequency 1. Difficult to find fuelwood 0.8% 2. Limited space for fuelwood 6.4% 3. Law availability of wood 71.0% 78.2% 4. Find fuelwood at home garden 3.2% 5. Collect fuel from surrounding area 4.8% 6. Easy to find fuelwood 7. Collect free of charge 5.6% 8. Given by plantation company 9. Easy to find from scrub area 10. Easy to buy from market 8.1% 21.8% 11. Not use wood fuels Source: Fuelwood Resource Survey, 2015 Note: Cell values are in percentages

Conflicts during fuelwood collection

Evidence for conflicts during the collection of fuelwood has been reported by less than 1% of the respondents who didn‟t reveal the exact reason and the nature of the conflicts.

Perception on planting trees for fuelwood

During the survey only 1% of the sample showed their interest to grow trees for fuelwood while there were 94% disagreed to plant trees for fuelwood. Further there were 5% non-respondents for the respective question. Those who disagreed revealed that there fuelwood is freely available in the Gampaha district.

1.12 Willingness to grow fuelwood

As indicated in the previous section, only 1% of the sample (5 respondents) was willing to grow plants for fuelwood for which the probable reason may be heavy urbanization. However, further research is needed before coming into a firm conclusion on this. Most of the informants during the survey emphasize that fuelwood is readily available in Gamapaha district.

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Final Report, Fuelwood Resource Survey of Sri Lanka, 2016 – Gampaha District

2% 2% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 0% 0% 0%

Figure 1.10: Distribution of those who are willing to grow fuelwood by different land use type in Gampaha District

It is evident that a detailed analysis on willingness to grow fuelwood cannot be conducted since no of observations are limited. Enterprise Survey Results

1.13 Types of enterprises The enterprise survey was conducted among 12 business enterprises covering 01 fuelwood sellers, 02 saw mills, 03 roadside eating houses, 03 medium-size hotels, and 03 bakeries. The survey was conducted during the month of October 2015 and in most cases, the owner or the manager of the enterprise happened to be the respondent to the questionnaire and the most of them at least studied up to Grade 10. The majority of owners/managers of the businesses was male who are between 25-45 age group. In terms of employment, all other business entities employ less than 10 employees.

1.14 Use of energy, Prices, and Supply Chain All business entities (fuelwood users), except 02 bakery, use fuelwood for meeting their heating requirements. Discussion revealed that many businesses in recent years have switched into other sources of energy use such as electricity due to easiness and relative costs considerations.

The fuelwood seller disclosed that they supply fuelwood, mainly cuts and splits, to both houses as well as business entities. According to him, his main supply sources are outside the region and some truck drivers transport fuelwood along with other materials such as sands and bricks. Also,

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Final Report, Fuelwood Resource Survey of Sri Lanka, 2016 – Gampaha District it is observed that left-over from building construction are also sold out as fuelwood. In addition, the suppliers receive fuelwood from home garden, largely on free. In some cases, if fuelwood is collected by household owners, a payment is made. Saw mill owners revealed that both households as well as business entities, such as bakeries, eating houses, and home-based food producers, buy fuelwood from them and in most cases, the supplier make the arrange the delivery of the fuelwood. In terms of species, saw mill owners revealed that number of species such as Mango, Mahogani, Ginisapu have become the main source due to the good demand from both households as well as from business entities. In addition, various other species such as Jack, Maara and Kanda are also traded. The saw mill owners revealed that they have been experiencing that the market for fuelwood and saw-dust keep growing over the last decade. One saw mill owner mentioned that he offered saw-dust in free of charge until recently, however, he started charging given demand for saw-dust has significantly increased in recent years. According to him, up to some four to five years ago, saw-dust disposal had become a major challenge for saw mill owners, however, selling saw-dust has currently a thriving business due to major industries keeping buying at a reasonable price per kilogram. Moreover, the owner highlighted that saw-dust has a good demand from home-based industries such as string-hopper producers and even from road-side eating houses. The survey team witnessed that some road- side eating houses using saw-dust from preparing various fast food such as Kottu Roti. The nearby bakeries, hotels, road-side eating houses, and households buy off-cuts at the mill consist of various fuelwood species.

All afore-mentioned, other than the road-side eating house and the home-based food producer, business entities rely on market for fuelwood. At the same time, some eating houses and the home-based producer depend on their own sources where they collect fuelwood from their own homegardens. Access to other private and public lands in collecting required fuelwood is limited in Gamapaha district since abundant lands and government lands are limited in the district. One or two persons, un-paid family workers partly occupied in supplying fuelwood at the aforementioned two business entities. Hence, the opportunity cost of the time spent for collecting and transporting the fuelwood is the implicit price of the fuelwood paid by the two entities. Out of the 03 hotels interviewed, only two is using fuelwood currently for its cooking requirement. It uses fuelwood, all most all the species available at saw-mills and/or suppliers, however, the owners of the hotel revealed that he prefer to have rubber branches or stem as fuelwood species since it is convenient to handle and heating is good. It is also revealed the business entity buys around 1000-1500 Kg of fuelwood per month. The other hotel pointed out that it stop using fuelwood due to difficulties in handling, dirtiness, as well as rising prices. It stopped using fuelwood using in some three to four years ago. At present, the hotel depends on Gas and Electricity in food preparation. A detailed discussion revealed that, out of the reasons pointed out in not using fuelwood, dirtiness, emission, and the time taken for preparing food when using fuelwood are main reasons. The survey also covered 03 bakeries and two are using fuelwood while the other use electricity. Two fuelwood used bakeries buy fuelwood from one of the largest

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Final Report, Fuelwood Resource Survey of Sri Lanka, 2016 – Gampaha District furniture producers in the area. It was revealed that they pay up to Rs. 1,200 per load of small tractor (the weight of the load is around 300 Kg). It is revealed that many bakeries as well as other entities using fuelwood in the district heavily depend on this furniture producer. In addition, the bakeries received fuelwood from suppliers operating in the neighborhood on irregular basis, from land clearing and pruning of trees in home garden and other lands.

The discussion with owners/managers of business enterprises revealed that one of the main reason for using fuelwood is the price factor and the opportunity costs of collecting and handling fuelwood. Similar to cases in other districts covered in the survey, they are of the view that any relative price increase (fuelwood price relative to gas price) could force some number of existing fuelwood users to switch to other energy sources, mainly Gas and Electricity.

1.15 Issues and Challenges One of the main concerns of the fuelwood users (Enterprise using fuelwood) is the rise of price due to limited and decreasing supply and ever increasing demand. In Gampaha district, the discussion revealed that there are fuelwood collectors who supply fuelwood to Biyagama Free Trade Zone and as a results small enterprises face some difficulties in access to fuelwood. In this context, traditional users of fuelwood face difficulties in maintaining a stable supply of fuelwood. On the other hand during the last decades many Rubber lands have been converted to Tea and palm oil plantation resulting reduction in Rubber cover.

It is witnessed that owners/manager of business enterprises use fuelwood in efficient manner recognizing the fact that it is becoming a scarce resource. It is also revealed that a number of surveyed businesses planning to switch into other sources of energy due to lack of fuelwood as well as recent reduction in price of gas.

Results of Key Informant and Focus Group Discussion

The team conducted four focus group discussions at Gampaha, Biyagama, Meerigama, and Watrala DS offices. In addition, key informant discussions are held covering Divisional Secretary, Additional Divisional Secretary, selected fuelwood suppliers, and knowledgeable people (shop owners). Focus group discussions consist of Grama Niladaris, Development Officer, Land Use and Policy Planning Officer and some general public who involve with fuelwood businesses. Using a unique format, each key informant discussions as well as focus group discussions were carried out.

Each discussion started with an opening speech delivered by a member of the research team. This opening speech mainly focuses on explaining the objective of the project, information planning to gather, and the purpose of the focus group and key informant discussion. At each focus group discussion, each participant was given a chance to explain his/her experience with

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Final Report, Fuelwood Resource Survey of Sri Lanka, 2016 – Gampaha District fuelwood. Next, a general discussion is initiated to understand the geography and economy of the DS division followed with fuelwood use, supply, and availability. The discussion is further deepened by letting participants to discuss about the availability of lands for possible fuelwood growing and people‟ willingness to engage in such activities. The latter part of the discussion focuses on issues/barriers for fuelwood growing and identifying strategies for promoting fuelwood planting in a sustainable manner. In key informant discussions, it was attempted to understand the potential for promoting fuelwood growing, land availability, legal and institutional barriers in fuelwood harvesting, and possible strategies for promoting fuelwood growing.

1.16 Main Production Source/System

It was revealed that, except in Wattala, households depend heavily on homegarden in collecting fuelwood in all the aforementioned DS division. It is also mentioned that household use coconut shell, coconut husks, and coconut branches along with other fuelwood species. At household level, coconut shell, coconut husks, and coconut branches are popular as fuelwood species. Also, some households use Rambutan branches (in Malwana area) as fuelwood since Rambutan trees are trimmed annually. In Wattala DS division, households buy fuelwood which are mostly sourced from other parts of the districts as well as districts such as Puttalama. It is learnt that number of businesses (mainly bakeries) in recent years switched into electricity and/or gas due to lack of fuelwood and/or relative price considerations.

This is largely due to the loss of comparative advantage due to increase in relative price of fuelwood and volatility in supply. According to the participants, available stock of fuelwood in respective DS division as well as in the district has drastically declined due to land segmentation and conversion. Moreover land cover drastically declined due to rapid urbanization.

In all the DS divisions, unutilized and/or underutilized lands are available at different proportions, however, compared to other districts such availability is rather limited in Gamapha district. Several participants mentioned that it may be difficult to encourage owners unless fuelwood growing become a lucrative business. Similar to other districts, it revealed that a considerable amount of lands in rural area are unutilized/underutilized due to lack of clear-cut land ownership.

The discussions further revealed, as in the case of many other surveyed districts, the timber production and fuelwood production closely connect each other and in most cases, these two activities are carried out together. Off-cuts from the timber production are supplied as fuelwood. Even in Gampaha district, in remote areas as well as in semi-urban areas, off-cuts from timber production do not get into market since profitability is relatively low. Hence, either households collect such left-overs or naturally digest to the soil. The team did not come across any single case where fuelwood production is carried out on commercial basis though number of

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Final Report, Fuelwood Resource Survey of Sri Lanka, 2016 – Gampaha District individuals involve in fuelwood supplying businesses. As in other district, lack of engagement is largely due to low profitability, other competing crops, lack of awareness, and some failures in the past.

1.17 Barriers and Strategies for Promoting Fuelwood Growing

As in other surveying districts, a number of barriers were identified with respect to promoting fuelwood growing. Among them is the lack of price for fuelwood. Fuelwood prices at present is only sufficient to cover the labour needed for collecting and transporting. In effect, land owners receive very low price or in some cases they do not receive at all. Hence, growing trees for fuelwood is not only unpopular but also presume as unwise. Hence, it is very important to set-up a market for fuelwood with necessary arms.

It is also important to notice that political patronage is important to promote fuelwood growing. It is imperative to take into account political economy consideration because political leadership, be it national, provincial, and/or local, plays a key role in promoting or demoting of any economic activity in developing countries such as ours. Until today, government has not spoken about the use of fuelwood as an alternative energy source. Hence, the participants to focus group discussion as well as key informant highlighted the fact that success and the sustainability greatly depend of political patronage.

Lack of understanding on fuelwood as an alternative energy source is quite clear among both public and public officials. Moreover, they do not have information about present level industrial applications. Hence, it is imperative to address this information gap. It is important to provide information on different fuelwood growing models, potential species available, prices, and market expansion in future. It is important to note the people consider relative price level before venturing into fuelwood growth. It would be difficult to promote fuelwood growing among small holders unless system is created to guarantee the growers that they receive considerable level of income on regular basis as well as sufficient final income. These conditions may be very restrictive highlighting the fact that promotion of fuelwood growing among small-holder farmers become difficult. Hence, it is important to consider multi-level growing model; where many fuelwood growers with different sizes. It might be quite illogical to promote fuelwood growing at household level in Gampaha district given the socio-economic conditions of the district.

1.18 Issues arising from Commercial supply and Industrial applications

It was highlighted that a irreparable damage could incur if industrial applications increased within a short period of time. Such increase in demand could endanger the surrounding environment having far reaching consequences. Hence, as many participants highlighted, it is

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Final Report, Fuelwood Resource Survey of Sri Lanka, 2016 – Gampaha District imperative that government come up with necessary regulations to before promoting factories to meet their energy requirement through fuelwood.

Projections of fuelwood potential – Gampaha district

1.19 Fuel wood Potential of the study area

The source and resources of fuel wood associated with the production of fuelwood at household level was covered in the questionnaire survey of which accurate information is not available in any secondary data source presently available. However many sources add to the national fuelwood production which can be estimated using secondary data available. Consequently, based on the given methodology of this report, the potential for fuelwood was estimated for different sources based on the land use in the specified locations.

Estimations have been given two categories: (a) fuel wood which could be extracted at present and (b) additional potential quantities if the unutilized lands are suitably developed as agro- energy plantations. The following points should be noted:

 “Forest Lands” are considered as Forest Plantations, where trees are extracted for timber once the trees reach maturity. Off-cuts (pita palu) and branch woods are taken as fuel wood.

 The following categories of lands are considered for future developments as Agro-Energy Plantations: Grass lands, Barren Lands, Chena Lands and Sand.

 The quantities of fuel wood presently extractable or extractable in future are considered as nil (zero) for the following categories of lands: Abandoned paddy lands, Marshy lands, Parks, Playgrounds, “Scrubs” and unclassified lands.

The values have been estimated at DS level for Gampaha districts base on the existing land use and lad cover which are given in Table1.21. In Gampaha district potential for fuelwood is higher in areas where homesteads and coconut have become major land use.

The spatial distribution of the fuel wood potential in Gampaha district is given in Figure 1.11. There are very clear Geospatial variations and relationships with the spatial distribution of the prominent land use pattern.

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Final Report, Fuelwood Resource Survey of Sri Lanka, 2016 – Gampaha District

Table 1.21: Fuel wood potential in Gampaha District

Additional Fuel Wood Fuel Wood Presently Extractable (Tones/y) DS Division Extractable (Tones/y)

Coconut Homestead Other Rubber Tea Total Scrub Total

Attanagalla 2965.5 9564.3 177.9 24.3 24.3 13910.5 26107.6 26107.6 Biyagama 478.5 6072.1 81.9 107.8 58.4 6798.6 7347.3 7347.3

Divulapitiya 8875.3 9615.9 194.4 77.4 0.0 18763.0 17351.1 17351.1 Dompe 1832.9 10030.6 144.9 3761.4 0.0 15769.9 4520.1 4520.1 Gampaha 718.4 7388.5 52.5 86.4 0.0 8245.9 5632.0 5632.0

Ja-Ela 301.3 6386.1 105.4 42.6 0.0 6835.5 7538.9 7538.9 Katana 2445.3 8502.7 767.8 29.5 0.0 11745.3 16760.1 16760.1 Kelaniya 37.7 2620.7 75.7 0.0 5.0 2739.1 5521.8 5521.8

Mahara 1347.0 8295.0 261.3 425.8 0.0 10329.1 6279.2 6279.2 Minuwangoda 4147.2 8736.5 45.1 160.1 0.0 13088.9 12938.7 12938.7 Mirigama 4211.8 11464.1 286.2 1060.5 0.0 17022.7 27052.1 27052.1

Negombo 124.7 3555.9 151.7 0.0 0.0 3832.3 1929.8 1929.8 Wattala 367.7 4775.2 168.0 2.0 0.0 5313.0 3919.6 3919.6 Total 27853.4 97007.8 2512.9 6932.0 87.7 134393.7 142898.4 142898.4

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Final Report, Fuelwood Resource Survey of Sri Lanka, 2016 – Gampaha District

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Figure 1.11 Spatial distributions of the projections of potential for fuelwood under different land use patterns in Gampaha District

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Final Report, Fuelwood Resource Survey of Sri Lanka, 2016 – Gampaha District

1.20 Land Availability

Land availability has been assessed using the GIS system developed during the study. Based on the analysis, total available lands which have a potential for planting fuelwood species in Gampaha district is about 4770ha. If a woody tree cover could be established in these areas the advantage is not only from fuel wood generation but also there is a possibility for carbon trading as well which would be much more economically benefitted. However, feasibility studies are further needed before come to a firm conclusion regarding the establishment of fuelwood species in these areas.

Available extents of lands (ha) by land use and DS divisions in Gampaha District are given in Table 1.22 which has a potential for growing fuelwood species. These were estimated at DS level and the spatial distribution is given in Figure 1.12. As one of very urbanized districts in Sri Lanka, land availability is relatively low in Gampaha when compare to Kalutara district.

Table 1.22: Available extents of lands (ha) by land use and DS divisions in Gampaha District for growing fuelwood species

DSD Name Land Availability (ha)

Attanagalla 870.323 Biyagama 251.203 Divulapitiya 578.372 Dompe 151.110 Gampaha 187.734 Ja-Ela 251.297 Katana 558.618 Kelaniya 184.602 Mahara 209.308 Minuwangoda 431.289 Mirigama 901.735 Negombo 64.327 Wattala 130.654 Grand Total 4770.572

Source: Extraction from GI System used for fuelwood resource survey 2015

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Figure 1.12: Spatial distribution of the available land that has a potential for growing fuelwood species

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Final Report, Fuelwood Resource Survey of Sri Lanka, 2016 – Gampaha District

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