Abstract
Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) are an important source of Pharmaceutical industries for developing a variety of drugs in one hand and in other hand income for the traditional communities living in and around forests. The pressure on forests for the collection of NTFPs has motivated conservation biologists and forest managers to find ways to harvest NTFPs in a sustainable manner. Identification of plant species is the first and foremost criterion in planning for sustainable utilization of resources. The present study was conducted in five-forest division covering 12 villages having an average 345 households of Keonjhar district in Orissa on various NTFPs products. A total of 24 plant species of NTFPs are collected from the forest. The collected NTFPs were used in different purposes i.e. medicines, vegetables, essential oils, dye yielding, food items and other miscellaneous items by the tribal people. The seasonal variations of the availability of NTFPs indicates that there were seven NTFPs found in winter season, eight found in summer season, four in monsoon season and five found in around the year. It was observed that 88.9% villagers were engaged in agriculturefollowed by (10.14%) labor category and only 0.86% in business or service class. In this study, it is suggested that the tribal community should be involved in the established market chain for marketing of NTFP’s. This will be also useful for the conservation and maintenance of NTFPs, which is a major livelihood option for poor traditional communities if we used in a sustainable way.
Highlights
Forest plays an important role in enhancing livelihood requirements for rural community and in maintaining ecological balance
A total of 24 plant species of Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) are collected from the study site and documented detail about ethnobotanical knowledge
Analysis of the data reveals that Shorea robusta leaves, as well as mushrooms are the main NTFPs collected in Keonjhar district
Summary
Forest plays an important role in enhancing livelihood requirements for rural community and in maintaining ecological balance. NTFPs play a very significant role in the rural economy in terms of providing employment, income potential and life support sustenance [5]. For hundreds and thousands of years, indigenous communities have been utilizing NTFPs for various purposes i.e. edible, medicinal, food and other purposes and have been considered as the secondary production. It has acquired some importance in the recent years in policy strategies of the government owing to its significance in life support substance to numerically large number of forest dwelling communities. Unlike timber that brings profits to government treasure, economic benefits provided by NTFP are accrued largely by the local people and forest dwellers [6,7]
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