Indian Institute of Forest Management

Executive Summaries of Research Reports

ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF MICRO FINANCE AS A TOOL FOR ADIPTION OF APPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGY AND CONSERVING THE ENVIRONMENT

RESEARCH STUDY ON WOODCRAFT AND CARVING INDUSTRY AT BASTAR IN CHATTISGARH AND JODHPUR IN RAJATSHAN

SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT OF SOME CRITICALLY ENDANGERED SPECIES OF MEDICINAL PLANTS IN CENTRAL INDIA

WATER MANAGEMENT AT MICRO LEVEL : AN ANTHROPLOGICAL STUDY IN VIDISHA DISTRICT OF MADHYA PRADESH

CONTRIBUTION OF THE NON WOOD FOREST PRODUCTS IN THE NUTRITION AND LIVELIHOOD OF THE TRIBAL COMMUNITIES IN THE BETUL FOREST OF MADHYA PRADESH AND THE MELGHAT FORESTS OF MAHARASHTRA NUTRITION

GENDER PARTICIPATION IN RURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT STUDY OF JFMVILLAGE ON JHABUA

IDENTIFYING TRAINING NEEDS OF FRONTLINE FORESTERS IN CONTEXT OF PARTICIPATORY FOREST MANAGEMENT

STRESS AUDITING OF FOREST PERSONNEL

INVESTIGATION INTO THE MARKETING PROBLEMS OF MYROBALANS (HARRA) IN MADHYA PRADESH

ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF MICRO FINANCE AS A TOOL FOR ADIPTION OF APPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGY AND CONSERVING THE ENVIRONMENT

By.

Prof. B.P. Pethiya

This study has been conceived with basic objective to investigate how micro-finance can provide impetus to the forest dwellers for NWFP value addition through the application of technology and thus conserving the environment.

The study report consists seven chapters. First chapter contain introduction, statement of the problem, objective(s) and review of pertinent literature. Second chapter deals with the research methodology adopt for the study. Chapters third, fourth, fifth and sixth are focused on pertinent subjective matters viz. a) NWFP harvest, value additions, appropriate technology that could be adopted for NWFP value additions b) Source of micro finance in the study are like SHGs, DWACRA groups, etc. c) Purposes (subsistence, health, education, marriage, pilgrimage etc.) of micro finance to the forest dwellers of the study area. d) The impetus of micro finance in adopting the appropriate NWFP value addition technology, benefits - costs of such value addition to forest dwellers and environment at large e) Forest dwellers survival requirements, sources of survival, contributions of various sources like agriculture, NWFP, other sources f) Land holding size of the forest dwellers, and relationship between landholdings and the purpose for which micro finance is sought out by the forest dwellers and g)
The impact of appropriate NWFP value addition technology on the environmental conservation.

The development and adoption of appropriate NWFP value - addition technologies is going to be a major thrust area for the development and progress of forest dwellers in coming years. This has to be dovetailed with the availability of micro finance to make real success. However this shrinking sources of availability of NWFP is developing a undue competition amongst forest dwellers leading to premature and unsustainable harvest of NWFP for immediate financial gains.

Value addition to NWFPs usually takes at primary collector level (removal of unwanted parts like leaves, stems twigs etc., cleaning, shaping, bundling, drying, grading, storing, boiling, peeling, pulping). Value addition can be done also at primary collector level by way of pre and post harvest car of NWFP production system. The forest dwellers are already adhering all possible and indispensable value additions to their NWFP harvest.

With a micro finance provision of Rs. 3,000 per member for group of 5 members and federating such 5 groups can go collectively for adopting scientific honey harvesting technology (tools and implements). The net percent value (NPV) of this total investment of Rs. 75,000 works to be @10% - Rs. 1,09,336 and @15% - Rs. 75,563. The internal rate of return (IRR) was reckoned to be 38.4%. the required micro financial assistance to adopt scientific honey harvesting technology can be sourced from SHGs (through bank linkage program). Apart from making available required micro credit to forest dwellers for NWFP base micro enterprise, the catalyst role has to be played by some agencies / NGOs to provide the required market linkages for success.

The seasonality of NWFP availability compels the forest dwellers to source their micro finance requirement for the usury system that is predominant in the local vicinity. The system is exploiting the forest dwellers, not only lending at very high interest rate but also snatching the NWFPs at un-remunerative prices many a time without any value addition. And the poor forest dwellers are forced to surrender his inventory as soon as he harvested to the local trader/money lenders. If, these forest dwellers are provided with micro credit through their own SHGs, and give them a privilege to repay these advances in small installments the problem can be diluted.

Various government/non-government organizations evolving appropriate technologies, which can be adopted by the forest dwellers for poverty alleviation that can raise the income of forest dwellers. Extending micro financial assistance to the forest dwellers certainly gives an impetus for adopting appropriate technology for NWFP value additions. Setting up of micro enterprise is rationale exercise, it should be based on market driven for the proposed output (product). Majority (in over all, 71%) of the respondents surveyed have shown their willingness to adopt NWFP value addition technologies, subject to the availability of the micro finance.

Forest dwellers get 38% of their micro credit requirement from SHG/DWCRA and money lender accounts for 38%, followed by relatives friends / other - 15% and the rest accounting for 9% from banks/government schemes. The purpose for which micro finance is sought includes 25.6% for health, 18.6% for substance, 17.4% for education, 16.3% for marriage, 11.6% for pilgrim and 10.5% for other purpose like observing rituality etc. the micro finance requirements varies in most of the cases, with the size of land holdings in general and specifically with forest dwellers. The higher the land holding size the more amounts is needed for their different activities and purposes.

The role of NGOs is very crucial in forming the Self-Help groups by extending awareness amongst the forest dwellers. These NGOs can also interact with forest department officials and existing Joint Forest Management (JFM) committees for convincing them about the advantages of SHGs. The NGO can help the SHG to take loan under "NABARD's Bank SHK linkage programme for Micro Finance", which can be used for setting up the micro enterprises based on NWFP, with appropriate technology.

The gap between supply and demand for micro finance has led the forest dwellers to go for distress sale (e.g. at very minimal price generally for mahua, between Rs. 4-6 k.g. to the middlemen or petty traders) of NWFP collected by them, to meet their immediate subsistence needs. The forest dwellers are resorting to maximizing the quantity of NWFP collected even beyond sustainable harvest limit. Hence, concerned government agencies and NGOs, elicit themselves to augment the primary collector education program about sustainable harvesting practices. The existing practices of NWFP harvesting / collection, transportation and storage can be further improved to minimize the wastage.

The existing NWFP trade channel from collectors to the consumer involves the middleman as a major link. The SHGs on their own can not reach to the consumers until and unless, they from a cluster and federation of their own or the big NGO makes the marketing interventions to replace the service of the existing middlemen.

The study reveals that total awareness in the study amongst the forest dwellers about SHG/DWCRA Group is 83.7%, which is very high. The membership held by the respondent forest dwellers in the study area is 60% of the surveyed population. This shows a gap between awareness and membership. The rest 23.7% who are aware about SHG moment but not yet become the member.

The average minimum survival amount in terms of money per annum of forest dwellers per family of the study area was Rs. 11,198 and average family size of the study area is 5.33 persons. The average contribution of NWFPs is reckoned to be 28% of the total equivalent income, which is next to agriculture.

The appropriate NWFP value addition technology development becomes indispensable for the development of forest dwellers on one side and to conserve the environment on the other. The present value addition techniques / technology adopted by M.P. Vigyan Sabha CARD, GCC in the study area are environmental friendly as they are not emitting / discharging any chemicals / pollution through their value addition process. Such models can be replicated in other places too, which will increase the livelihood for the forest dwellers and will contribute to conserve the environment. It is wise to diagnose the environmental aspects and all the possible impacts associated with a processing of NWFP from procurement to the consumption including the value addition part from environmental point of view.

Thus the role of micro finance is not only essential but also very crucial to improve the livelihood of forest dwellers, by enabling them to adopt appropriate technology for NWFP based micro enterprises and conserving the environment.

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RESEARCH STUDY ON WOODCRAFT AND CARVING INDUSTRY AT BASTAR IN CHATTISGARH AND JODHPUR IN RAJATSHAN

By

Dr. Manmohan Yadav

The study "Research study on woodcraft and carving industry at Bastat in Chattisgarh and Jodhpur in Rajasthan" was funded by IIFM, Bhopal. The study was carried out during October 2001 - March 2003 at the two study sites of Jodhpur and Bastar with following broad research objectives :

To study the production-consumption system of woodcraft industry at the two study sites.

To study the benefit sharing among the major stakeholders in the woodcraft industry.

Household income generation from wooden handicraft production and the socio-economic characteristics of people/artisans.

The linkage of the woodcraft industry with exports from India.

Survey of the nearby forests to assess the impact of extraction on production, availability and regeneration of the harvested species in the selected study sites.

To study the demand and supply of wood species used in this industry and its impact on extraction.

The study used both secondary and primary sources of information to meet the above stated objectives. Since wood supplied to Jodhpur industry is not coming from the forests and therefore the ecological study to know the impact of the industry on the forest/plantation was carried out only at Bastar. The important conclusions of the study are, though not in the same order as that of objectives, in the following paragraphs.

WCI at Jodhpur

The current status of the WCI at Jodhpur is the result of the dedicated efforts of entrepreneurs, artisans and traders for more than three decades. A small trading activity of collection of old furniture, doorframes, window frames and other decorative items made with intricate carving by the master-craftsmen of yester decades and selling these after refurbishing/repairing to the antique-shopkeepers in metro cities, has turned into 600 crores handicraft industry. Jodhpur is the biggest woodcraft industry of the country providing employment to more than one lakh people, and generating exports of more than 400 crores. The majority of the people (almost one lakh) are artisans working either at their homes or in the big manufacturing units. The other categories of the people include handicraft manufacturers (medium and large firms), timber traders and other raw material suppliers, exporters and other office staff at these units.

Through the exporters corner the majority of the benefits, large manufacturers, and timber traders but still the industry provide regular employment to more than one lakh artisan / labour community.

The most important raw material used in the woodcraft industry is the wood / timber which is not available in sufficient quantity in the state and is supplied from other states like Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Bihar, Punjab, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. But still this industry has developed in this otherwise desert state mainly because of the enterpeneurship of the people of this state.

Among the major preferred wood species include Shisham, Mango, Babul / kikar, Neem (65%, 15%, 10%, 3% respectively) etc. Shisham is sourced from IGNP plantations and from farmers land in Rajasthan as well as other states like Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Bihar. An estimated 25-30 lakh cft wood is consumed in this industry per year putting pressure on the supply and availability of the desired species mainly Shisham.

In earlier years one locally available timber species Roheda (known as desert teak) was used in the craved furniture and other woodcrafts. But on account of overexploitation this species is hardly available and hence has been banned for harvesting even on revenue land.

The otherwise, inhospitable climate conditions in Rajasthan are favourable for growing only few hardy species like babul/kikar. The results of the experiment done as part of this study show that one such hard timber species namely Vilayati Babul / Vilayati Khejri (Prosopis juliflora) can be used as alternative to the currently used Shisham wood.

The use of alternative species is also imperative given the informal (and in most cases illegal). Supply chain of the current wood species, which cannot be taken for granted forever. With proper management of the species prosopis juliflora in terms of good silviculture, working and harvesting practices and favorable policy framework, it can be taken up for large scale plantation. This is a necessary condition because of the quantity of wood required by the industry over a long period of time. This species is a fast growing one and more over suitable to grown in the climatic conditions of Rajasthan. This would make this industry as self sustaining in terms of the wood requirements.

The wood species required for woodcraft industry could be raised on the farm bunds and boundary, which not only protect the crops but also help to generate more income from the unit piece of land. But only thing required is to certify these private plantations and hence would not create any problem when such certified wood is exported.

The industry has responded to the changes in the availability of the wood, quality of wood and the prices of wood by shifting to lower priced Shisham wood, which is though, not mature wood and is susceptible to pest attack. The industry has introduced the concept of Seasoning and Chemical treatment of wood to overcome these poor quality aspects of cheap wood. Thus the industry has been able to remain price competitive in the export market.

But the wood availability is continue to be one major bottleneck in this industry as new issues such as sustainable harvesting of wood becomes a requirement in export.

It was observed during the study that the artisans are largely unorganised and in most cases are not provided with or covered under various benefit schemes such as insurance, PF, gratuity, health and sanitation. This results into insecurity of the artisans both in case of losing the job or meeting with any accident.

WCI at Bastar

The existence of memory pillars and "Ghotuls", wooden doors are the proof of woodcraft of Bastar and its inherent qualities. The woodcraft has survived to the present day because of the tribal kings patronising the craft.

The artisans engaged in woodcarving / craft industry are from different communities viz., Bengali, oriya, Mauriya, Batra, Adivasi, Dhurvaa and Gonds. However the large scale production is owned and controlled by the outsiders mainly the Bengali community who came here in 1970s and settled here. The handicraft products include woodcraft including furniture. Bastar, being a district with full of forest, containing finest quality 9f Sal, Teak and other types of woods, various types of furniture and other attractive wooden - carving / crafts and made by the skilled and experienced hands of the tribale. These are one of the most famous, beautiful and unique arts of wooden carving of Bastar tribals. Among the furniture items, Deewan (Cot with box) is very famous and attractive since it involves the art of carving depicting Bastar culture and other designs of interest. Many such items are today made and kept for sale in shops at Jagdalpur, which attracts locals as well as tourists. Some of the handicrafts are also exported to different places of the country, and even to foreign countries.

However the woodcraft industry at Bastar could not develop to its true potential because of the remoteness of the area and the lack of transportation and communication facilities and the initiatives from the government.

The woodcraft industry at Bastar uses Teak, Sal, Bija, Sheona etc. these species are available at Bastar itself. The wood used is sourced through both legal channel of auctions from the forest department as well as illegal channel through the people living in and around forests including the timber mafia working in the area. the total wood used in the industry is estimated at 42000 cft per year.

The forest survey done to study the impact of this industry on the forest / plantation in Bastar reveals that there is damage to the forest in general but this damage could not be linked to this industry along. This is because of multiple uses of the timber of which use in WCI is very limited.

Given the very high cost of teak the artisans use only timber sourced from illegal channels, which is available at discounted price. The handicraft/carved furniture if made from timber sourced from forest auctions cannot get market because of high price. This could be one of the reasons for this industry not developing to a large scale manufacturing industry, which has to source timber from formal channels.

The woodcraft industry at Bastar is different from Jodhpur in the sense that it employs hardly thousand or two people against hundred fifty thousand people getting employment at WCI Jodhpur. While both the places had similar conditions in terms of the art and artisans. Jodhpur WCI which requires 25-30 lakh cft wood but it is not available locally while Bastar has abundance availability of timber but the consumption by the WCI is very small quantity as the industry has not developed to its potential.

The outcome of the study suggests following recommendations in order to ensure the long term survival of the industry and sustainable availability of the wood species desirable for use in the WCI at Jodhpur and Bastar.

In order to sustain the industry at Jodhpur, regular and assured wood supply is critical. Since the majority of wood supply comes from other states and from TOF, which are not assured options and hence there is need for formulating a long term wood supply strategy for this industry. The various options available could be as follows:

Assured supply from IGNP area through a long term agreement.

Large scale plantations of the wood species used in the industry.

Large scale plantation of alternate wood species prosopis juliflora.

Import of wood from credible sources in timber exporting countries.

Moreover the industry should focus on more value addition through craftwork then just exporting large quantity of furniture products.

The government may also consider de-classification of simple furniture products with negligible craftwork from the definition of handicraft.

The government can also look into the security both financial and health aspect of artisans, who are the major stakeholder in the industry but least organised and are deprived of the benefits such as PF, gratuity, insurance etc. and are at the mercy of the big manufacturers / exporters.

There is need for developing the basic infrastructure for the development of woodcraft industry at Bastar to its true potential like Shilpgram.

Also there is need for the training of the artisans of Bastar for developing new designs and product variety to meet the changing customer tastes.

In order to improve product quality and productivity of Bastar craftsmen, use of modern tools and machinery needs to be promoted. For this purpose a common facility center may be opened by the government, which can provide both training and facilities for mechanised work for the artisans.

Since the teak wood price is prohibitive for use in the WCI and hence either teak must be provided at concessional price or the artisans should shift to other alternate but cheaper wood species like Khamar, Bamboo etc.

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SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT OF SOME CRITICALLY ENDANGERED SPECIES OF MEDICINAL PLANTS IN CENTRAL INDIA

By

Dr. Manish Mishra

The present deteriorating condition of Safed musli (Chlorophytum spp.) and Malkangni (Celastrus paniculata) plants in the natural forests of Bhopal and East Mandla Forest Division is very precarious and needs immediate attention not only for conservation but also for propogation. Present study clearly shows that the position of Safed musli and Malkangni in the natural forest areas is very alarming in terms of less number of plants per hectare, poor plant quantity and quality. Both the species found under critically endagered category in the natural forests of East mandla and Bhopal Forest Divisions. The competition for early collection among the locals living around the forests was growth and occurrence of plant. The middleman forcibly exploits the valuable medicinal plant species in the study area.

However, the status of other two selected medicinal plants i.e. kali musli (curculigo orchoides) and Baichandi (Dioscorea bulbifera) shows slightly better conditions as compared to safed musli (Chlorophytum borivllianum) and Malkangni in the natural forest of both the divisions. The Baichandi climber falls under vulnerable category mainly due to its edible and medicinal properties. The harvesting practices, ecological status, commercial uses population decline and density of plants shows that if the control measures are not taken, both the species will soon fall under critically endangered category in the near feature.

The findings of the project recommends that : The safed musli (tuber) plant should be allowed to mature upto November and there after disc with some tubers should necessarily be left behind (ateast 50%) for further regeneration. Felling, looping and uprooting of climbers like Malkangni and baichandi for collecting fruits / seeds and tubers need to be immediately stopped. Proper training of people for collecting fruits / seeds by scientific methods (like plucking of Malkangni fruits by bamboo stick after maturation) should be given to the local peoples. Simple value additions like peeling skin, cleaning, washing and sun-drying of safed and laki musli, baichandi tubers may enhance income of gatherers. Time and sustainable method of harvest should be organized by forest department or through local communities. The unhealthy competition for immature plant collection within the villagers must be stopped for which awareness camps at village level should be organized.

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WATER MANAGEMENT AT MICRO LEVEL : AN ANTHROPLOGICAL STUDY IN VIDISHA DISTRICT OF MADHYA PRADESH

By:

Amitabh Pandey

Water is an important element of human society and acts as essential for life support system. It is associated with every aspect of human life like social, economic and cultural system in many ways. Every society develops its own symbol of meaning, values, norms and traits with respect to natural resources like water, which it utilises in different sphere of life such as economic, social or cultural. The management of water at micro level is very important for social and livelihood requirement of rural society. In this study focus of research was to understand the water institutions, social organisation and ownership patterns (traditional and modern) at micro level and rules, roles and cultural factors of informal and formal institutions in efficient and equitable management of water. The study also aimed to study the process of conflict and its resolving methods in community and in institutions.

This was an anthropological study were ethnographic approach was applied to understand the water management strategies adopted by the rural communities. Vidisha district in Madhya Pradesh was selected for study as recently a series of water management activities have been initiated in it to revive the traditional management practices of water management. Two villages were selected on the basis of purposive sampling, one with water scarce and other water surplus village in the district of the state. In these villages fieldwork was conducted from March 2002 to Dec 2002. Participant observation method intensive study of social institution of water management at micro level was carried out.

The water management in studied villages can be classified for namely three purposes. The water is used for cultural purposes, domestic needs, and economic needs (irrigation, fishing and for livestock). The villagers use water available on the surface and under ground table for these mentioned activities. In Sayar village, the sources for surface water are canal, pond, river, Baowdi (Step well) and hand pump. In summer villagers Baowdi is the only source for drinking water. The village Panchayat owns this Baowdi. Bamora village has one well, which is used for drinking purpose by the villagers. Halali river and canal water is used for livestock and other activities. There are total three bore well in Bamora village.

In the study area water is classified into sacred and profane domain. Water for sacred domain is needed to pure and used for religious purpose. The water in profane domain can be again divided into two sphere i.e. water essential for life sustenance and water for economic purpose. When water is needed for sustenance of life, all form of animals is permitted to be use water, within prescribed cultural norms. Meanwhile ownership rights govern water for economic use. Secondly it is governed by institutional arrangement society has made for utilization of the water resources.

Second in ranking of purity among the surface water is less rapidly, but water surely running water for example like streams. Then in the order is large storage of water bodies like big Lakes. In this criterion the order of purity keeps decreasing on the basis of decreasing size of pond. In these villages, all the life cycle rituals have act of purification associated in it and water is the main component that is used for this purpose. The water is used for various activities like drinking, bathing, cleaning and cooking at household among various communities in the village is about 160 Lt/day.

Water used for economic purposes is purely used for irrigation purpose. Here it is different situation for the two villages studied. In case of Sayar its villagers has water user association to utilize the water from the minor canal of the Halali dam. Therefore most of its agriculture land is irrigated and the villagers grow crops in both the agriculture seasons. Whereas, in case of Bamora village it has no facilities of irrigation, therefore most of it agriculture is rainfed. Only in case of large and rich farmers who own diesel engine or electric engine use, this machine to lift water for minor canal to irrigate their agriculture land.

Water conservation is an activity under taken by farmers in traditional ways to enhance water retention capacity of agriculture fields to utilize water moisture for its crops. The villagers conserve water by stopping it to increase the moisture content is the agriculture field. For this they construct bunds around their agriculture fields. The aim is to retain rainwater for long duration, so that it stay in the filed to percolates down and maintains moisture for long duration, which helps to increase the productivity.

The over all assessment of WUA shows that it is in nascent stage and farmers of head end are benefited by the transfer of water management to them whereas it has not been beneficial for the farmers of tail-end. The water cess collection has not been very impressive due to weak enforcement policy of the government and exclusion criteria for free riders. The local dynamics prevailing the village plays an important role in management of WUA. The WUA is under the control of larger farmers and dominate communities and lower caste farmers; this has led to inequitable distribution of water among the farmers. In order to make the institution more effective the water distribution process needs to be made more transparent and enforceable. This needs to be supported by strong sanction against the free rider.

Conflict management on social issues is done through the traditional villages council, however for the conflict related to natural resources villagers rely on the government system to settle the dispute. These disputes are related to WUA, in which distribution of water, route of water and old feud are the cause of dispute. The WUA institution is not able to handle some intractable matter. However, most of the issues are settled through negotiation. Recently, conflict has emerged due to government policy of distribution of Charnoi land among the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes households.

The villagers manage their water for domestic needs appropriately, but there should be provision for maintenance of government provided water systems like hand pumps. For this at the time of providing the facilities, provision should be made to train a villager to carry out the task of maintenance of village water structure. In case of water for economic purpose, need is there to enhance the communities involvement in the WUA. For this need is to make the functioning of WUA more transparent and participatory. Transparency can come from openness and fairness of the institution is decision-making process. Participation of communities can improve only if all the stakeholders are convinced that the water resource is going to benefit them. This not the in case of tail–end farmers of WUA, were the water availability through the canal is very low compared to head-end farmers. The payment of cess is very low due to weak enforcement of payment rule and delinking the water distribution process and water cess payment.

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CONTRIBUTION OF THE NON WOOD FOREST PRODUCTS IN THE NUTRITION AND LIVELIHOOD OF THE TRIBAL COMMUNITIES IN THE BETUL FOREST OF MADHYA PRADESH AND THE MELGHAT FORESTS OF MAHARASHTRA NUTRITION

By:

Dr. A.K. Bhattacharya

The role NTFP in life of people living in villages in and around forests cannot be gainsaid. Areas such as Melghat and Betul are two forests divisions undertaken in the study. These areas have huge forest resources and the community of the areas is quite depended on these resources. Forest produce like fruits and berries are collected and consumed by children all throughout the year. Other forest produces like vegetables, leaves and other food items are collected by women for domestic consumption. Adults are involved from time to time on collection of NTFPs for domestic as well as for selling in the market. Collection of NTFP and time and efforts devoted to collection depends upon availability as well as on other opportunities. Income generating activities, though, are few and barely able to meet the cash requirement of the households. Therefore, purchase of food items is limited and villagers have at times no option but to dwell in forests for survival, especially in the lean season. Malnutrition among children is a common phenomenon in the project area. Weight-height for age criterion was used to calculate the nutrition status of children. The percentage of malnourished (underweight) children is high. Results for adults were not different signifying a inadequate diet lacking both in quality as well as quantity. A standard calorie requirement is taken and results are compared accordingly.

The family size of the households in the project area is around six. Literacy rate is the project area is pathetically low. Percentage of female literacy is particularly much lower compared to male literacy. Cash income sources to the villagers are limited but this do not reflect the true status of poverty as many of their needs are met through the forest resources. Average income of almost all the households surveyed was less than defined by the government of India as above poverty line (income more than 24,000), therefore all these families needs to covered under Swarnjyanti Gram Swarojgar Yojna but disappointingly very few development schemes reach people. Cattle stock comprises almost a pair of ox in all the households besides milching animals like cow and buffalo. Inadequacy in irrigation facilities is common in all the project villages. The average size of unirrigated land is almost twice of that of irrigated. The average land holding in the project area is acres. Major crops of the area are wheat, maize, chana, jowar and rice.

29 NTFPs were reported to be collected by the villagers. Out of these mahua, gataru, aonla, aachar, bhamuari, bans and musli are commonly collected by villagers for sale as well as for domestic consumption. Mahua is the most important NTFP of the area. Mahua is collected by most of the households (%) covered in the study. On an average a household give eight visits for collection of Mahua out of a total of 25 visits. The average consumption of Mahua is kgs/year. It is collected for both consumption as well as sale.

Consumption of NTFPs per household in Chaurakund is maximal in all the four villages followed by consumption in Hataru, Kathabadi, and Muda. The difference in per year consumption of NTFP in a household in Chorakund (69 kg) and Muda (35 kg) is about half. Average agricultural production of a household in a year is 1261 kgs in Chaurakund, 1034 in Hataru, 918 in Kathabadi and of food grains 424 kgs of food grains in Muda.

Available NWFPs consumed by the villagers were collected for chemical analysis to ascertain their nutritional values. The chemical analysis was carried out at Laxminarayan Institute of Technology, Nagpur.

The percentage of underweight is greatest in Chorakund out of the four villages. The percentage of underweight children is highest in Hataru and lowest in Muda.

Muda has lowest of NTFP consumption and lowest of agricultural production in the project area and still the percent of underweight is lowest in the project area.

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GENDER PARTICIPATION IN RURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT STUDY OF JFMVILLAGE ON JHABUA

By:

K.N. Krishna Kumar

On the basis of available natural resources in the selected Village Forest Committee and Forest Protection Committee of Jhabua district the gender participation in various resources and activities were assessed and analysed. As described in Chapter III and Chapter IV of this report, It could be concluded as follows.

The most important natural resource in the study area is the human resource which has a tendency to affect the gender participation in natural resources and associated activities in management .

It could be concluded from the table 3.1.1 that the highest number of respondents 22.49% were recorded in the age group of 50 and above, followed by 20.8% of respondents in the age group of 30-35. While the lowest percent of 9.1% of respondents were recorded in the age groups of 20-25 & 40-45 years.

It could be concluded from table 3.1.2, that the gender participation among the ethnic groups of society in the study area of Jhabua district. 94.2% of the respondents were from ST Group followed by 5.0% in other category . While less than one percent was interviewed from general category.

The gender participation depends upon the types of groups existing in the village. The number of households (maximum) in a specific-dominant group of the village will affect it. These dominant groups, apart from maximum number of households in the village, have a tendency to affect through its size of land holdings, literacy level, occupational structure, economic stability and political support. It could be concluded from Table 3.1.3 that the Type of houses and number of electrified houses of the selected respondents in Jhabua villages. 82.5 % of the houses of selected respondents were of Kaccha Type followed by 13.3% and 4.2% of puccka house and Semi-kaccha and puccka house.

It could be concluded from table 3.1.4A that the size and age group of the family members affects the gender participation in all activities. Thus the main cause of existing gap in gender participation is mainly due size of family members and sex ratio such as number of males, number of females number of boys and number of girls. The 64.92% of the population comes under the category of working population while 35.08 % is dependent population .

Gender participation in the activities related to capacity development is one of the major determinant of infrastructure development. The level of Literacy rate has a tendency to effect gender participation in various activities. It was evident from 3.2.1 that Male literacy was 66.2 % and female literacy is 33.8% . The male literacy was two times higher than the female literacy level.

Gender participation in village is bound to be affected by the pattern of the participation of different social groups in different types of occupation or income generation activities. The nature of the group (dominant/low key), extent of generated from an occupational activity, male & female engagement in that particular activity etc. affect the level of gender participation in rural areas. the occupational structure is an important variable.

It was evident from table 3.5.1. the average size of land holding varies in the selected forest ranges of Jhabua district. The highest land holding was recorded 5.6 acres in Thandla forest range followed by 3.8 acres in Alirajpur Forest range. Due the average size of land holding the per capita land availability also varied from ( 1.04 to 0.38 acres ) forest range to different forest range and affects the gender equity in access and utilization of natural resources in agriculture . The percentage of irrigated land was recorded 65.2 highest in Thandla forest range as compared to other selected forest ranges.

The distance of forest from the location of village has a direct impact on gender participation in utilization of the forest resources. It could be concluded from the table 3.4.2 that the average gender participation in collection of forest products and other resources was recorded 31.1 for male and 62.3 for females. The women’s participation in collection of forest products and resources was recorded 31.2 more than the male’s participation. The average gender participation varies from forest range to other forest range of Jhabua district.

It could be concluded from the table 3.4.3 that the average gender participation was recorded 61.1 with 28.5 male participation and 32.4 women’s participation in the sale of various forest products in the study area. The women’s participation was recorded highest by 3.9 as compared to male participation in the sale of forest products. The average gender participation also varies from forest range to another forest range.

It could be concluded from table 3.4.4 that the women’s participation was recorded highest as compared to male participation in the processing of mahua flowers; Tendu patta; chironjee; mahua seeds and aonla. The overall gender participation was recorded 78.8 in the study area with 40.1 as male participation and 43.7as women’s participation. The average gender participation varied from range to range.

It could be concluded from table 3.4.5 the overall gender participation was recorded 175.5 with 139.2 as males participation and 36.3 as women’s participation. The overall male participation was 79.3% in all activities related to forest conservation and development.

It could be concluded from the table 3.4.6 that average time consumed in hours for all forestry conservation and development activities was recorded 407.8 hours equivalent to 16.99 days. Or in other words, 1631 hours equivalent to 61.3 days were utilized in Jhabua forest division for conservation and development activities related to forest .

It was clear from the table 3.5.1 that gender participation was recorded 30.2% in pre-agriculture activity which was highest as compared to intercultural operation with 29.9 % and Post harvest operation with 28.8% and processing & marketing with 10.1 %. The women participation was also recorded highest with more than 51 % in activities like pre-agriculture activity, intercultural operation with 52% and Post harvest operation with 51.9%. While male participation was recorded 56.3% in processing and marketing . It could also be concluded from the table that the gender participation varied from range to range and final results could be seen in figure 3.5.1

It could be concluded from the table 3.5.2 that gender participation was recorded highest in Ploughing activity followed by weed eradication, looking after field, putting fertilizers in field, preparation of field bunds, seedling and irrigation of field respectively. The women participation in Pre-agriculture activities was recorded highest as compared to male participation in seedling 79% , and more than 52% in activities like putting fertilizers in field, weed eradication, and looking after field . While the male participation was recorded highest in activities like ploughing 96.8% followed by activities like preparation of field bunds , irrigation of field more than 51 %. The average gender participation in context of male participation is higher by 36 number as compared to overall female participation in pre-agriculture activities.

It was evident from the table that maximum number of days put by males and females was recorded highest in the Weed eradication activity with 738 days. The lowest number of days were recorded in irrigation of field activity. It could be concluded from the table that in Jhabua district 2615 days were recorded in all pre-agricultural activities.

It was clear from the table 3.5.4that women participation was recorded more than 50% which was higher than the males participation in harvesting of all crops. The highest gender participation was recorded in harvest of Maize crop with 328 people, followed by Urad crop with 259. The lowest gender participation was seen in the harvesting of moon Pulse. It could be concluded from Figure 3.5.2 that the gender participation and time taken in the harvesting of crops the highest number of days were taken by the people in the harvesting of Cotton crop with 114.0 days The lowest number of days were recorded in the harvesting of Moong pulse.

It could be concluded from the table 3.5.5 that the average women’s participation was recorded 54.7 which is highest as compared to Males participation in the extraction of grains. The gender participation was recorded highest in Alirajpur forest range followed by Thandla forest range. The highest time was taken in the extraction of cotton buds with less than 180 days. The lowest time was recorded in the extraction of Pulse of Moong crop.

It could be concluded from the table 3.5.6 that the average women’s participation was recorded highest as compared to males participation by 9.5

The maximum time in days was recorded in the separation of grains in Maize crop followed by Urad crop and lowest number of days as time taken by the people was recorded in the separation of Moong crops.

It was evident from above table that the 41.6 % of the households have the house within the field and 29.1% of households travels ½ km to transport extracted grains up to the storage place. 25 % of the household travels up to 1 KM from the grains extraction place to storage place. While 4.3% of the households were travelling more than 1.5 Km to 2 Km to store extracted grains.

It could be concluded from the table 3.5.8 that males participation was recorded highest as compared to women’s participation in the transportation of extracted grains to the storage place.

It could be concluded from the table 3.5.10 that the male participation was recorded highest as compared to women’s participation in the storage of all grains of different crops in the study area.

The time taken in days for the storage of different grains in the study area. The highest number of days was recorded in maize followed by Urad. It was evident from the figure 3.5.5 that lowest number of days was recorded in Moong pulse.

It could be concluded from the table 3.5.11 that the highest participation was recorded in Cotton buds followed by Soyabean and urad pulse respectively in marketing of grains of different crops.

It could be concluded from the table3.6.1 that there was a pressure on the utilization of ground as well as surface water because of the use of pumps.

It could be concluded from table 3.7.1 A and 3.7.1 B the that the effective community participation in any development activity ultimately depends upon the good health of the population. This means the community's affordability of the medical and health services achieved through better income level. Higher attendance to health center by the community does reflect its general health status. However, it can also be considered as the indicator of the general awareness or consciousness of the health and hygiene of the community. Thus, the number of male and female members of a specific social group going to the various health centers can be considered as an indicator of their health/hygiene awareness level. It means the higher the gender participation in health and hygiene including sanitation related activities, particularly availing the services of the health centers indicates the better general health status.

It could be concluded from the table 3.7.1 that Average gender participation was recorded among male as compared women’s participation in health and sanitation with the values of 88.5 and 86.3 respectively. The average boys and girls participation recorded in the study area was 88.5 for boys and 86.3 for girls in attendance to health and sanitation.

The livestock is considered as an important resource in the village. This resource is usually assessed in terms of its total number available in the village. It was clear from the table 3.8.1 that the average size of bovine animals was recorded highest in Thandla with 4.16 cattle per household followed by Alirajpur and katthiwada with 4.06 and 3.4 animals per household respectively. The lowest average size of bovine animals was recorded in Jhabua forest range with 3.2 animals. The highest average size of non-bovine animals were recorded in Alirajpur with 4.0 animals followed by Jhabua, Katthiwada and Thandla with 2.66, 1.93, and 1.56 respectively.

Another important dimension of gender participation related to livestock management in rural areas is the income generation activities like sale of animals, milk products, and meat flesh (some animals) which demand the active involvement of both male and female members of house holds possessing the live stock. Here again activities are usually gender specific depends upon the nature. But such division of labour does not in any way reflect the relative importance of the activity. It could be concluded from the table 3.8.2 A that women’s participation was recorded highest as compared to male’s participation so far as the livestock management is concerned. The women’s participation was recorded more than 51% in the collection feeds, stall feeding. In some of the activities related to collection of cow dung and preparation of cow dung cakes the women’s participation was 100%. While 68.2% of women’s participation was recorded in the Milking /preparing milk products.

It could be concluded from the table 3.8.2 B that the girls participation occupies the prime role in the activities related to livestock management.

Table 3.8.3 also indicates about the fodder and grass consumption per day in the study area of Jhabua district. The size of livestock population depends upon the availability of fodder grass with the household to feed. The shortage of fodder grass in drought period results in distress selling of bovine animals. The higher the capacity of household to feed livestock indicates the higher numbers of livestock in the households.

It could be concluded from the table 3.10.1 that the gender participation varied from range to range in the study area the average highest participation was recorded in Katthiwada forest range with 89 person, followed by Alirajpur forest range with 88.3 person while the lowest participation was recorded in Thandla forest range followed by Jhabua forest range with average mean participation difference of 7 persons . It could be concluded from the table 3. 10.2 that the boys average participation was recorded 50.1 which was highest than the average girls participation.

It could be concluded from the table 3.10.3 that the social cultural values varied from forest range to forest range. The gender participation in social cultural values which were seen in Thandla forest range were not seen other forest ranges like Katthiwada, Jhabua and Alirajpur except Dewasa . While the gender participation in Bhagoria was seen in all forest ranges except Thandla range . The average gender participation was recorded highest in Bhagoria and Dewasa festival with 257 and 243 peoples’ respectively. The average gender participation was recorded 50.1 for males and 37.5 for women in the study area.

It could be concluded from table 3.10.4 that boys and girls participation the social cultural values varied from forest range to forest range. The boys and girls participation in social cultural values which were seen in Thandla forest range were not seen other forest ranges like Katthiwada, Jhabua and Alirajpur except Dewasa . While the boys and girls participation in Bhagoria was seen in all forest ranges except Thandla range . The average boys and girls participation was recorded highest in Bhagoria and Dewasa with 251 and 258 numbers respectively. The average boys and girls participation was recorded 50.2 for boys and 46 for girls in the study area.

Gender participation in the institutional resources reflects the relative role of male and female in the governance. The extent and nature of participation depends upon the positions held by the members (male or female) in various institutions.It could be concluded from the table 3.11.1 that the gender participation in institutional resources varied from forest range to other forest ranges.

It could be concluded from the table 3.12.1 that the women participation in drinking water related , water harvesting /storage was recorded highest as compared to males participation. While males participation was recorded highest in production related activities and wage related activities. The average women participation was recorded 81.4 in above listed activities which was highest than the males participation by 24.9. It could be concluded from the table 3.12.2 that the girls participation in drinking water related , water harvesting /storage, production related activities and wage related activities was recorded highest as compared to males participation. The average girls participation was recorded 23.4 in above listed activities which was highest than the boys participation by 14.7.

It could also be concluded from the table 3.12.3 that average women participation was 142.9 which was recorded very high as compared with male participation of 65.8 in the household activities.

It could be concluded from the table 3.12.4 that average girls participation was 40.4 which is very high as compared to boys participation of 16.6 in the household activities. Girls participation was recorded highest with more than 96% in the activities related to water, fuel and food preparation. While the girls participation was recorded more than 80 % in activities like child care, 65% in cleaning and repairs.

It could be concluded from the table 3.12.5 that male participation was133.1 people which is higher than the women’s participation by 8.6 in resource management as input. The women’s participation was observed higher than the male participation in Katthiwada and Jhabua forest range. Only in the case of jewelry the women’s participation was recorded highest as compared to males participation.

It could be concluded from the table 3.12.6 that girls participation was recorded as 10.8 in numbers which was higher than the boys participation 2.5 in resource management as input. The boys and girls participation was not seen in Alirajpur forest range. The boys participation was recorded more than girls participation in Thandla and Jhabua forest range.

It could be concluded from table 3.13.1 that production activity related to agriculture occupies first rank followed by income generating activities and employment respectively. The average gender participation was recorded highest 88.5 in Alirajpur range, 81.5 in Jhabua range . It was evident from the table that more than 50% of gender participation was recorded in agricultural activities. It is also evident from the table that the average male participation as compared with female participation was recorded higher by 1.4 .

The male was dominant in access profile as resource output . The highest participation was occurred in basic needs followed by savings outside income with 309, 299, and 292 in numbers respectively. Only in katthiwada forest range the female participation was recorded highest as compared to males participation by 2.6 in numbers . This also indicates that males plays dominant role in access profile as resource output.

Like gender participation in access profile of the study area the control profile is also very important in understanding ‘Who controls’ the resource as output. The outside income, Asset ownership, education political powers related activities savings etc were controlled by the males in the study area. It could be concluded from the table that in all selected forest range the control profile of household as resource output is controlled by the males in the study area.

It could be concluded from the table 4.3.1 that the number of active SHGs in the study area indicates the independent status of women and different types of socio-economic development in the villages. The women’s involvement in SHGs also indicates the addition in the family income. The active involvement of women’s in various activities of SHGs also shows the Gender development and Women empowerment in the study area of Jhabua district.

From table 4.3.1, 4.3.2, 4.3.3, and 4.3.4 it could be concluded that peoples participation is now occupying a new dimension in context of developmental phases. The success or failure of the programme could be reflected through peoples’ participation in various activities. Many of the government programmes have failed because of non involvement of peoples. Thus, JFM is one of the Government programme in which the people’s participation and gender participation was good.

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IDENTIFYING TRAINING NEEDS OF FRONTLINE FORESTERS IN CONTEXT OF PARTICIPATORY FOREST MANAGEMENT

By:

Niraj Kumar

Forestry in India has witnessed a great variation in the approaches of forest management. Unfortunately, there have not been parallel changes in the training curriculum and methodology. Although there have been sporadic and ad-hoc changes, the training of foresters have not been able to match the emerging requirements. A careful study of the course taught reveals that the syllabi and course prescribed in the 1960s or even earlier remain virtually unchanged. An examination of the syllabi of the forest academy, forest colleges and the forestry training institutes evidences their continuing emphasis on woodland management for timber production (Datta and Ray 1996). The recent changes in the approach of forest management (post 1988 scenario) has further necessitated changes in the content and pedagogy of the training. The shift from traditional to participatory forestry brings with a set of second generation problem requiring new social engineering skills and public administration technology (Rastogi, 1999). Training of forester becomes foremost task to equip them with those skills to perform efficiently under changed conditions. The position in the administrative hierarchy and role of the frontline officers make training of these officer crucial and important tasks. Further, the self-admission of frustration over a system which neglects and underestimate their potentials (Vasundara, 1996) make training of frontline foresters a very important task. Training need assessment attains its importance because this is the first and most crucial pre-requisite for training to be effective.

The findings of the study indicate that JFM a decade old programme was able to create awareness among almost all the foresters although they lacked information on finer details of the programme. They were given briefing and supporting literature while they were on work. It is interesting to note that most of foresters agreed with the principles of JFM and had undergone training related to JFM, when it came to actually practising it majority of foresters were found defaulters. Analysis of the finding also indicates that the average experience of foresters was 28 years. Higher experience is also an indication of their older age and number of years spent in the working in the situation, which has entirely different objective of forest management. The trainings of these foresters and also the "disciplined" working culture of the department had induced a common understanding among these officers that community need not to be involved in the forest management. Their age, training, expected role and ages old working culture of department appeared to be deterrent to the actual translation of these in action.

Senior officers were the first source of the information on JFM for majority of the foresters and in most of the cases foresters were personally informed by the officer either during the meetings or during the seminar/ conferences on the subject. The study also indicates that overall foresters were innovative, as considerable number of them had come to know about the JFM even before the actual implementation started in their respective divisions. Interpersonal channels helped in effective diffusion of information because of credibility and authority of the source. But it was also revealed that this was not a common practice and only those divisional forest officers who had personal interest in implementing JFM took initiatives to arrange meetings (both informal and formal) and seminar/workshop on JFM. In the beginning of any programme initiatives by few individuals not only provides much required initial boost/acceleration but also provides learning experiences which guides the future planning and implementation of the programme. However, initial initiatives and experiences were not capitalised to make it a permanent feature of JFM. It is worth mentioning here that range officers who constitute the highest hierarchy among the frontline foresters were reported not too supportive to JFM, and hence constitute the most a priority group of foresters where the training would aim both at attitudinal changes and at facilitating behavioural changes. There is also a need to a detailed study which would identify those factors which are hindering effective implementation of JFM and cannot be overcome by training of foresters alone.

Social skills have attained paramount importance in the light of changed roles of frontline foresters. JFM gives emphasis on the joint management of forests, needing social and managerial skills, which have been till date almost ignored in the training curriculum of the foresters. The communication skills were given considerable importance by the officers at the comparatively senior level. Now the forest management is not being seen in "isolation" and aims at overall integrated development of the village so that various pressure on the forests can be absorbed by some other sectors and management of forests become community friendly and scientific. Coordination between people's requirement and resource availability with other development oriented department, industries and banks to explore the options for employment and to facilitate multi-directional development of the village has become very important and traditional trainings do not cover these issues. Training in appreciating and handling such issues of utmost importance in the changed scenario.

Microplanning is well known to almost all the foresters and they possess sufficient knowledge about its preparation also. They did not have however, skills to implement all those works, which were mentioned in the microplan. Although, this was not possible and also not expected that frontline foresters would only be responsible for implementation of microplan but foresters did wanted some more detailed training on microplanning. Further, related issues which they mentioned during the discussion on microplan are require some advance skills which also be need to be taken care of.

The training of the foresters, although appears to be a regular feature of the state forest department but it is more like 'ad hoc' or as and when required. Now when it is clear that this participatory approach of forest management is going to stay an appropriate strategy starting from training need assessment to follow-up should be adopted. Foresters differed in their opinion about the duration of the training however, it is true that it would not be appropriate to suggest a fixed structure for the same as there was wide variation in the attitude, awareness and skills among the foresters. However, a series of week long training after the interval of 2-3 months on different issues would seem to be most feasible. The interval of 2-3 months would give participant ample time to either practice their learning or to bring issues for their discussion during the next training sessions. Although suggestion about the venue (at work place) seem logical but it would not feasible and training at division level would be the best possibility. Any one from the department was the most natural preference as the 'trainer', as the trainer would be able to appreciate working style of department and also the field conditions. However, because of 'disciplined hierarchy', it was observed, the hierarchy does not go even during the training which hinders the both learning and training process. Further, trainers also require training skills and everyone cannot be an effective trainer. So a skilled trainer who understand the ground situation and can break the hierarchical barriers would be most suitable. What happens after the training is consequential for the training effectiveness and it should be a matter of concern for the policy makers.

No doubt the scope of the training, particularly of frontline foresters has widened as the role of foresters has changed from those of police to change agent and training institutions should be able to cope those changes. However, it is also true that training per se has an important but limited role. It is important to supplement training efforts by efforts to remove constraints within the work environment that resist individual performance through efforts at organisational level.

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STRESS AUDITING OF FOREST PERSONNEL

By:

Dr. Parul Rishi

The study conducted the stress auditing of forest officers and field forest staff involved in different working divisions of Madhya Pradesh Forest department with the objective of promoting a more conducive atmosphere for forest management with the association of healthy and dedicated forest personnel. The stress audit comprised of the personal profile, personality profile, health profile and stress profile of forest officers and field staff, which was followed by behavioural intervention package for stress management.

The salient findings of the study are as follows: -

Personal Profile

The sleeping pattern of forest personnel ranged from 5-7 hours on an average with the field staff having a slightly lower average sleep than the officers.

About one third of the forest personnel engage in some form of compulsive exercise on regular basis, especially walking in forest officers and walking on duty in field staff.

Half of the forest officers admitted being habitual to alcohol in take and smoking while field staff was quite reluctant to accept it because of some social reasons. However, they accepted being the smokers in higher percentage considering it as more socially acceptable than alcohol intake.

Personality Profile

A major proportion of forest officers was found to be having type A personality, which is prone to stress. However, this portion was quite less in field staff.

Forest officers and field staff equally shared the mixed type of personality.

More of the field staff than forest officers were found having type B personality.

Health Profile:

Both the sub groups reported a moderate degree of physiological and behavioural symptoms. However, reporting of behavioural symptoms was comparatively higher and more intense than the other two, especially in field staff.

The major behavioural symptom was found to be mental fatigue and tension headache among forest officers and digestive problems among field staff.

Stress Profile:

Overall, both forest officers and field staff were experiencing stress of varying nature and degree.

Forest officers were experiencing more stress because of group and political pressures, work pressures, motivational problems and resource limitations respectively. However, personal and familial stressors were not vary crucial for them.

Field staffs were experiencing more stress because of resource limitations, motivational problems, group and political pressures and personally familial stressors respectively. However, the least important stressor was work pressure and departmental pressure.

The study has implications for HRD section of forest department for providing their personnel, adequate opportunity for training in stress management and other developmental opportunities. They should also take care of different types of stressors existing at different levels of forestry sector, so that a conducive working atmosphere for forest management could be generated along with association of healthy and dedicated forest personnel. It will further result in individual and organisational effectiveness. Regular stress auditing of forest personnel will be a very useful OD intervention in this regard.

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Investigation into the Marketing Problems of Myrobalans (Harra) in Madhya Pradesh

By

Dr. PARAG DUBEY

Madhya Pradesh is the most important producer of Myrobalans(Terminalia chebulla), accounting for 75 per cent of the total production in the country. Myrobalans is one of the most important tanning material of fruit origin of pyrogellol class which produces a brownish coloured deposit on leather called 'bloom'. This species is found throughout the mixed deciduous forests and also in drier forests, revenue wastelands, field bunds, village commons etc. Fruits are usually collected in January and tendered/auctioned by the Madhya Pradesh State Minor Forest Produce (T&D) Co-operative Federation Limited (MPMFPF).

Traditionally, private traders purchase Myrobalans from forest dwellers at nominal prices or on barter basis. This pattern of trade is still in vogue in many tribal areas. Increasing commercial uses of Myrobalans in Pharmaceutical and tanning industries have attracted the attention of the State Government towards them as a source of increasing state revenue and to ensure remunerative prices to forest dwellers for their produce and adequate supply of Myrobalans to cottage and forest based industries. Consequently the Government of Madhya Pradesh nationalised trade of Myrobalans in the mid-sixties and seventies. By the enactment of the Madhya Pradesh Laghu Van Upaj Vyapar Viniyaman Adhiniyam (Madhya Pradesh Minor Forest Produce Trade and Marketing) Act in 1969, the government took over the trade in harra, sal seeds, gums and mahua. However, state control over mahua flowers was lifted soon. The pattern of state trading in case of harra was governed by purchaser-agent system till 1980 and changed to the lump sum payment. In order to give more benefits to forest dwellers in collection and trade of Myrobalans, the M.P. State Minor Forest Produce (Trading and Development) Co-operative Federation was formed in 1984.

The important producing centre of Myrobalans in the state are Raipur, Durg, Mandla, Chhindwara, Jabalpur, Shahdol, Raigarh, Baster, Surguja, Bilaspur, Rajnandgoan, Sidhi, Satna, Panna, Seoni, Balaghat etc. Most of the produce is collected and sent to Kanpur and Madras for use in the tannin industry.

In the recent past, there has been a considerable fluctuation in the production of Myrobalans in the state. As compared to a peak production of 525 thousand quintals in 1971-72, the production ranged between 21 to 220 thousand quintals in subsequent years. Major reason for declining trend in production has been the felling of Myrobalans trees growing in revenue wastelands, which were gradually brought under plough.

In addition to the above, there has been a considerable downfall in market price and demand of Myrobalans. Per quintal market price of Myrobalans, in 1990 was Rs.290/-, which subsequently dropped to Rs.180/- per quintal in 1992-93. In January 1994 the price for per quintal of Myrobalans was Rs.155/-. There after federation has taken some measure and the prices were again gone up. In the year 1996-97 the price of per quintal Myrobalans was Rs.460/. There has also been decline in the demand of the product. Large amount of Harra is currently lying in the government godowns, leading to heavy loss to the state government in terms of storage costs.

This study aim to investigate the above marketing problems of Harra in the state of Madhya Pradesh. Following are major conclusions and suggestions made in the study:

Myrobalans has traditionally been the major Non-Timber Forest Product in the State. It contain tannin which is used in converting hides to leather. It has played vital role in the economy of forest dwellers and tribal live in and around the forest. MP is the largest producer of Myrobalans in the country. It is collected during the month of January to March every year by MP MFP Federation through their primary co-operative societies spread all over the state. At present, India is earning valuable foreign exchange by export of finished leather and its items to the develop world. Therefore, in view of the importance of Myrobalans as an tannin material, its production is to be increased considerably. Moreover, this produce give employment to million of forest dwellers. The finding of the study lead to the following conclusions and recommendations:

1.         There is no doubt that because of the nationalisation and co-operatisation of trade in Myrobalans in the state of MP, tribal collectors getting better collection rate for their produce. During the initial period of co-operatisation in the year 1984-85 collection rate for per quintal of Myrobalans was Rs 55/-, which was upwardly revised and fixed Rs 200/- per quintal in the year 1997-98. But the increase in the rate of collection during thirteen years period was four times, which is not substantial on increasing inflation.

2.         Most of the Harra traders in opinion that delayed sale of Harra by federation make them uncompetitive in the market. Harra collected during the month of January & February and tender were invited in the month of September & October. Holding the fresh crop of Myrobalans for more than six months when Federation is in shortage of good storage facility, ultimately, lead to spoilage of produce during the rainy season.

3.         As mentioned early, poor condition of godowns owned and hired by the Federation spoils the quality of Myrobalans in rainy season. Therefore, it is suggested that produce should be tendered before the on set of monsoon so that federation could save the storage cost and Harra traders can maintain the desired quality of the produce.

4.         To get the advantage of market prices in the high demand season, it was also suggested by few traders that Harra tender by the Federation should be done twice or thrice in a year instead of once in a year. This will not only increase the average sale rate for the Federation but also helpful to traders in planning their requirements for the year.

5.         There has been a constant increase between the collection rate of per quintal Harra and its selling prices. But this huge gap between buying and selling prices tempted the agencies involved in this trade to do same malpractice. This will lead to loss of State exchequer.

6.         Another problem reported in this survey that declining interest of tribal in collecting the Myrobalans from govt. forest. This is clearly reflected from the production trend of last five years, which is gradually declining. This may be attributed to lower collection rate of Myrobalans in comparison to other nationalised NTFPs and delayed payment of collection charges by the Federation. When we asked this to some DFO, they informed the late receipt of collection money from the head office. This make the Harra collection less attractive for the tribal.

7.         To increase the interest of collectors and production of Myrobalans, some traders suggested to follow the Girijan Co-operative Corporation model of Myrobalans collection & disposal. This model is based on advance selling of standing crop through tenders on the basis of forecast amount of production. The collection rate also be calibrated with the selling rate of Myrobalans so that the tribal collector get the benefit of market prices.

8.         Traders were reported the following management problems in the trade of Harra:

(a)       After award of the tender, mostly, traders received work order very late.

(b)       Another problems reported that some time declared quantity of Harra in tender notice was not available in the godowns. As traders deposit the total value of stored quantity in advance to enjoy the 2 per cent cash discount, they neither get back their money nor the required quantity of Harra.

(c)        The concern DFO also took time to issue Weighing certificate to the Harra traders for transporting purchased quantity of Harra.

(d)       Some traders of the opinion that EMD should be increased from Rs 10 per quintal to stop the non serious traders to participate in the tender and delay the supply to the market.

(e)       Transit pass-II issuance authority is rest with concerned DFO, unlike the tendu leaves where range officer can also issue the TP. In the latter, it is faster and convenient to traders to lift their produce.

(f)         Penalty charges @ 27 per cent for delayed payment seems to be the major reason for many traders not to compete in Harra tenders.

9.         Survey of tannin industries at Kanpur reveals the following problems and suggestion to be incorporate in the trade of Harra by federation to make it more profitable for tribal collectors:

(a)       Increasing price of Harra in the market making cost of tannin higher in compare to other market. This has force the tannin industries to shift to other cheap alternative of tans. This is the main reason of decline demand of Harra in tannin industries.

(b)       Leather sole is being replaced by PVC and other material in the international market. Since, Harra was mainly used for making sole leather, therefore, reduced demand of finished product also reflect on the raw material demand.

(c)        Most of the tannin industry at Kanpur showed keen interest in participating in the Harra tenders of the federation, provided that the complexities of the whole process should be minimised and orient towards the need of the industry.

(d)       As fresh Harra contain maximum per cent of tans material, tannin industry had opinion to dispose of the Harra crop at the earliest possible time by the federation.

(e)       Due to higher prices of Harra, number of tannery at Kanpur now using spray dried powder of Myrobalans, which is mainly supplied by the Tans India Kohlapur plant.

(f)         Harra is still in high demand in tannery provided that it will be supplied at reasonable prices, so that the cost of leather should also be competitive in the international markets.

10.       All out efforts should be made to increase the export of Myrobalans in the existing markets and to develop new markets, as there is a lot of scope for it. It would be better to set up a task force in an all India organisation like Nafed or Trifed for promoting the export of Myrobalans. This organisation should undertake market surveys and research studies to examine the reasons for decline of Harra exports from the high levels achieved in the seventies and eighties and suggest remedial measures and gather and disseminate useful data and information relating to production costs, prices and export of Myrobalans to the sellers and buyers. In advertisement campaigns abroad, the fact that vegetable tans leather is a naturally treated material which is good for human skins and also for physical environment should be emphasised and an appeal should be made to the ultimate consumers of leather items that million of tribal labourers, who depend on Myrobalans collection for their livelihood.

11.       The common problems, such as increasing Naxalites interference with the Harra collection operations and inter-state smuggling of Myrobalans, should be resolved through mutual co-operation, proper inter-state coordination and concerted efforts of all the Harra producing states.

Effective implementation of the above suggestions will go long way in improving the marketing of Harra in the State and country and solving the problems and removing the difficulties faced by the various parties involved in it.

Implications of the study for further Research

The following further studies on the subject can be quite useful and are, therefore, suggested to be carried out:

1.         In-depth and comprehensive studies of the marketing of Harra in other producing states, particularly, the important states such as Andhra Pradesh, Orrisa, Maharashtra and Tamilnadu, would be useful for analysing specific problems and difficulties faced in Harra collection and selling operations in those states and suggesting appropriate measures for improving Harra marketing there.

2.         A systematic and detailed study of the secondary marketing of Harra in the country, focusing on the activities of the Harra traders is essential to fill up the existing gaps in the literature and information available on this aspect.

3.         An enquiry into the causes of the decline of the volume of export of Harra and its extract to different countries will help in preparing appropriate international marketing strategies for increasing the exports of the Harra in future.