NON TIMBER FOREST PRODUCTS BASED LIVELIHOOD AMONG THE TRIBAL COMMUNITIES OF WESTERN GHATS, KERALA

ASHISH ALEX¹*, K. VIDYASAGARAN^2
1Department of Forest Management & Utilization, College of Forestry, Kerala Agricultural University, Kerala, 680656, India
²College of Forestry, Kerala Agricultural University, Kerala, 680656, India
* Corresponding Author : ashishalexp@gmail.com

Received : 25-02-2018     Accepted : 01-03-2018     Published : 15-03-2018
Volume : 10     Issue : 5       Pages : 5240 - 5245
Int J Agr Sci 10.5 (2018):5240-5245

Keywords : Harvesting, Income, Livelihood, NTFP, Tribes
Conflict of Interest : None declared
Acknowledgements/Funding : We use this opportunity to thank the Kerala Agricultural University, Kerala, 680656 for providing the funding for doing this work. We are grateful to the indigenous communities of Western Attappady for their kind cooperation in the successful completion of the work
Author Contribution : All author equally contributed

The study was conducted to understand the level of dependence on non timber forest products (NTFP) among the indigenous communities namely Irula, Muduga and Kurumba settled in the buffer zone of Silent Valley National park in Western Ghats of India. The Irula and Muduga communities resided on the fringe areas of the forest obtained 1 and 9 per cent respectively of their income from NTFP collection, whereas Kurumba community resided in the interior areas of the forest obtained 44 per cent of their income. The average annual contribution of NTFP to the income of a tribal household was US $ 723.75, 425.91 and 90.04 for Kurumba, Muduga and Irula respectively. Since NTFP’s are seasonal products, none of the households can sustain their livelihood based only on NTFP collection. The government (policy makers) or non-governmental organizations should start value addition enterprises involving the indigenous communities which ensure a better livelihood and year round employment to them.

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