Non-Timber Forest Products: Diversity, Utilization, and Dependency in Fringe Areas of Jaldapara National Park in Indian Sub-Himalayan Region

Abstract

Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) greatly contribute to livelihood, development, and poverty alleviation across the tropics. We also assumed that the fringe communities inhabiting Jaldapara National Park (JNP) of Indian eastern sub-Himalayan region largely rely on the NTFPs for their livelihood due to its remote and isolated location with no physical infrastructure and facilities. Multistage sampling technique was used for the study. The sample size was 205 households selected randomly from a sample frame of 10 villages. Descriptive statistics was employed to analyze and summarize the data. A total of 146 NTFP species was documented. The communities relied on their NTFP collection/harvest for food, medicine, firewood, fodder, and other socio-cultural items for household use and cash income. The documented species were further categorized into plant, fish, fungus, and insect. The relative frequency of citation (RFC), value ranged from 0.2 to 0.96 for all categories of NTFPs with average 0.78. Income from NTFPs contributed on an average 45% of the total annual household income of the households. NTFPs provided a natural insurance to households especially during the periods of scarcity. Focused interventions with technical and financial support are recommended to uplift the livelihood of the communities in JNP.