NTFPs in the Forests of the Western Ghats, India

by University of Massachusetts/Boston

Partners:

University of Massachusetts/Boston (UMB) Vivekananda Girijana Kalyana Kendra (VGKK) Tata Energy Research Institute (TERI)

Successes

Our project in Biligiri Rangan Temple (BRT) Sanctuary in southwest India is aimed at extracting, processing, and marketing non-timber forest products on a sustainable basis. The indigenous people of the BRT Sanctuary, the Soligas, extract a wide variety of non-timber forest products from the sanctuary, but sell the products at low prices without value addition.

Over the past year, our project made substantial progress towards our goal of enhancing the economic value of the products extracted by establishing Soliga owned enterprises that process and market the non-timber forest products. Two enterprise units, a herbal medicinal plant unit, and a food processing unit were initiated a year ago. Products from both of these units, herbal medicines and food products such as honey (from wild honeybees), pickles, and jams are being processed and marketed. Soligas are also being trained in bookkeeping activities so that they can directly participate in the microenterprises. Since the Soligas are actively involved in all phases of the project, it is hoped that they will thus have incentives to practice sustainable harvesting.

Our project has also made substantial progress in setting up monitoring activities. The biological monitoring component of the project has set up a monitoring plan that keeps track of the patterns of production and extraction in time and the impact of extraction on regeneration of extracted species. The socioeconomic component of the project has been designed to ensure community participation in the project, and economic sustainability. This component has also monitored the impact of the enterprise on the income of the Soligas, the flow of economic benefits to the Soligas, and the overall effect of the enterprise on the extraction patterns and conservation of biodiversity.

Challenges

The major challenges have been community participation in the management of the enterprises, centralization of the enterprise, and linking entrepreneurial activities with the conservation of biodiversity. The first challenge has been met by communicating more effectively with the community and having the managing board of the enterprise consist of elected rather than appointed members. The challenge of centralization is being met in two ways. Households are being encouraged to keep bee boxes to collect honey from wild bees and market the honey directly. Training in bee management is being provided. Steps are also being undertaken to restructure the cooperative societies that market non-timber forest products so that the extractors can realize better prices. The challenge of the linkage between enterprise and conservation of biodiversity is being met at a slower pace than anticipated. Community participation in management and actual profits from centralized and decentralized activities will be the keys to this linkage.

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