Non Wood Forest Products for Rural Livelihood and Sustainable Forestry with special reference to Chhattisgarh, India

Abstract

Non-wood forest products or NWFP is one of the most important forest resources that nourish the Indian rural economy. Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) constitute an important source of livelihood for millions of people from forest fringe communities across the world. In India, NTFPs are associated with socio-economic and cultural life of forest dependent communities inhabiting in wide ecological and geo-climatic conditions throughout the country. It is estimated that 275 million poor rural people in India, depend on NTFPs for at least part of their subsistence and cash livelihoods (Pandey, et al., 2016).Food and agricultural organization (FAO) of the United Nations defines NWFP as goods of biological origin other than wood derived from forests, other wooded land and trees outside forests. NWFPs are important in household food security. They are particularly important in reducing the shortages suffered during the hunger periods of the agricultural cycle. In rural India, NWFP is valued as component of social and agricultural identity. However, these use and values vary enormously from one area to the next (FAO, 1994). NWFPs are derived from a variety of sources such as plants (trees, shrubs, herbs, grasses, palms), animals, (insects, birds, reptiles, large animals ), and a range of other sources. Different plant parts (e.g. roots, stems, barks, leaves, flowers, seeds, fruits) often provide different NWFPs at different seasons of the year. Furthermore, NWFPs exhibit considerable variation in their use, with some consumed immediately on harvest ( e.g. fruits, fodder, wild meat), others after primary processing (e.g. edible nuts, bamboo, and rattans products), and still other proceedings through a series of downstream processing to meet market