Lok panchayat Akole taluka of Ahmednagar district in Maharashtra is located in the main ranges of Sahyadri. From eighteenth century onwards, by the time forts had lost their historic relevance and Akole region was pushed off to oblivion, traditional communities in this region survived on seasonal cultivation on less fertile lands of this region and hunting and collection of whatever forests around offered them. In summer traditional communities here would be busy preparing shifting cultivation lands, in rainy season they would cultivate paddy in the farms on the terraced hill slopes and in winter, livelihood would be mostly on hunting small games and honey collection and collection of whatever forests would offer them like gum, resin etc.

Snehlata Nath Keystone has been working on resins as an NTFP for the past 15 years. A number of programmes have been undertaken with surveys conducted in the ecological harvesting and market aspects of resins. The resin in focus has been Canarium strictum, which is collected in large quantities in some areas of the NBR – mainly Nilambur and Coonoor. Keystone has also conducted training programmes on sustainable harvesting methods and discussed different kinds of quality accepted in the market. In 2005-06, two workshops on Gums and Resins were organized in Nilambur, Kerala and Karjat, Maharashtra. These opened up many issues regarding harvesting methods, trade and quality from a wider perspective. Besides resins, the workshops covered gums of Anogeissus latifolia, Boswellia serratus and Pterocarpus marsupium, etc., collected only in small quantities in the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve (NBR), mainly for minor trade and self consumption.

Kovel Foundation Gums are one of the large numbers of valuable NTFP in India. Gums are basically plant exudations that result partly from natural phenomena and partly from injury to the bark or stem. They are exuded by plants in liquid form and on exposure, dry into translucent tears, and remain stuck to the bark of the stem or branch. Several species of plants yield gums. Some of the major gum-yielding species in Andhra Pradesh are: Sterculia urens, Cochlospermum religiosum, and Anogeissus latifolia. Sterculia urens yields Gum Karaya and locally it is called “Kovela, Thapsi, Kondathamara” etc in different regions of the state of Andhra Pradesh.

T Samraj Non Timber Forest Produce (NTFPs) play a prominent role in the lives of indigenous communities and forest dwellers. The Ayurvedic Industry is fully dependant on the supply of NTFPs from various regions in India and abroad. Ayurvedic Oushadhashalas (hospitals) use many ingredients collected from the forests, classified as whole plant, root, stem, bark, leaf, flower, fruit and seed. According to the branch of ayurveda practiced, the ingredients are used to prepare medicines ranging from powder, extracts, concoctions, syrups, tonics, chyavanprash/lehyam etc. Nowadays, capsules and cosmetics are also prepared from NTFPs. The rate at which the industry is growing has created ahuge demand for the NTFPs and medicinal plants which is met through imports and cultivation.

Snehlata Nath Non Timber Forest Produce (NTFPs) are important natural products harvested from the forest, forming an important part of the subsistence of many indigenous communities and also a trade item for earning an income. In India, this collection and trade is important till date, the intensity varying between different communities and forest type. NTFPs, especially medicinal plants are harvested from wild landscapes and used mainly in the local health traditions, Indian systems of medicine (ayurvedic, unani and siddha) and herbal cosmetic industry. According to present market trends this herbal industry is growing at the rate of 35% per annum due to the growing demand in this sector. This has led to increased demand of raw material from the forest. According to a global estimate 70-90% of demand of medicinal plants is met by wild and uncultivated natural resources – also ensuring livelihood avenues to millions of people. This scenario necessitates a deeper look into the resources, their ecological status and their collection details by the different communities.

Nabaghan Ojha The eastern state of Odisha accounts for 1/4th the of forest-cover in India. Odisha also has 22% of its population belonging to adivasi (indigenous) communities. Furthermore, about 15 million people, both adivasi and non-adivasi, depend on forests for their livelihood; adivasi people depend for 6-8 months of the years on forest resources, especially NTFPs, for their subsistence as well as for cash incomes.