Extraction of non-timber forest products from shifting agriculture fallow land by Adi tribe in Siang districts of Arunachal Pradesh, North East India

Abstract

This paper attempts to document NTFPs diversity in the shifting agriculture fallow land of Adi tribe in Siang districts in Arunachal Pradesh. A total of 62 species belonging to 57 genera and 38 families were recorded, which have significant role in livelihood sustenance of Adi community. Among all the NTFP species, angiosperms contributed highest number of 56 species followed by 4 species of pteridophytes and 2 species of fungi. Based upon the different broad uses, these NTFPs species have been grouped into 10 categories. Of which, highest of 24 species is use as vegetable followed by medicine 23 spp., handicraft 13 spp., animal feeds 7 spp., ritual 6 spp., etc. Depending upon the extraction and utilization of plant and plant parts by the Adis, it was observed that leaf is the most dominant plant part used as NTFPs, which only contributed 35 numbers of species followed by stem 20 species. During survey, it has been recorded that a total of 18 species are marketed and as many as 8 spp. are sold at the rate of twenty rupee only per kg. Further, it is advocated that by value addition and creating market linkages, the income from NTFPs could be enhanced, which will help in developing alternative livelihood for shifting cultivators. Therefore, the need of hours is to recognize the importance of NTFPs to mitigate the environmental degradation through sustainable harvesting by maintaining the forest intact.