Non-wood Forest Products Collection and their valuation in Chhotaudepur Forest Division of Gujarat State, India

Abstract

The Non Wood Forest Products (NWFPs) are substantial source of food and livelihood security to the tribal people throughout world. The NWFPs can be categorized in the different forms like leaves, flowers and seeds, gums and tanning materials, herbs and other miscellaneous items, fruits and bamboos etc. In this study, an attempt has been made to estimated total economic value of NWFPs in Chhotaudepur Forest Division (CFD) through primary survey of 10% selected households of different communities in 10% selected villages as per stratified random sampling. The study showed that NWFPs play very vital role in tribal economy of the CFD as it contributes total of worth `239.2 million/annum from the collection (use and sale) of 50 types of NWFPs (47 plant product and 3 animal product) in CFD in which flowers and seeds (80.90%) showed maximum economic value followed by leaves and Padiya-Patradas (11.2%), fruits (4.4%) gums and tanning (2.2%), herbs and others miscellaneous items (0.8%) and bamboo (0.003%). The study also showed that the lowest economic value has been derived from bamboo while the bamboo are very important NWFPs and can be grown easily in the forest area. Therefore, the effort should be made to encourage cultivation of important NWFPs species, especially for those which showed maximum value or market demand.