THE DIRECT-USE VALUES OF TROPICAL MOIST FOREST FOODS - THE HUOTTUJA (PIAROA) AMERINDIANS OF VENEZUELA

The direct-use values of tropical moist forest foods are quantified fr om 12 consecutive months of data of their harvesting by the Huottuja ( Piaroa) Amerindians of Venezuela, Alternate months were spent in a lar ge and small village to investigate the effects of development on harv esting, Local market prices were applied to the weights of plant and a nimal foods collected by households to calculate their market values, Labor opportunity costs were also calculated and subtracted from the m arket values to give the net monetary values of forest foods, These ne t values for all wild plants and animals were USD 1902 yr(-1) househol d(-1) for the large village and USD 4696 yr(-1) household(-1) for the small village, The data reported here, document the great dependence o f Huottuja livelihoods on the forest from which they obtain more food than they would have been able to buy if they invested the same amount of time in wage labor.