use forests for variety of purposes and most commonly used forest resources were fuelwood for energy, grass and leave fodder for livestock, leaf litter for ...
Indian Forester, 144 (2) : 150-158, 2018 http://www.indianforester.co.in
ISSN No. 0019-4816 (Print) ISSN No. 2321-094X (Online)
FOREST RESOURCE UTILIZATION PATTERN AND HETEROGENEITY IN RURAL HOUSEHOLD CHARACTERISTICS IN GARHWAL HIMALAYA SUSHMA RAWAT, MUNESH KUMAR, RAJIV PANDEY1 AND BHUVNESH NAGAR HNB Garhwal University, Srinagar-Garhwal (Uttarakhand) ABSTRACT Forest utilization pattern and extent among rural households varies differentially, affecting forest conservation and poverty reduction related policies and programmes. The present study attempts to analyze household characteristics facilitating forest resource use by rural households of Pauri Garhwal and Rudraprayag districts of Garhwal Himalaya, so that programmes may be tuned and optimized for better outcomes. Data on relevant household's parameters and forest resource use were collected from 454 randomly selected households distributed in three altitudinal ranges across the districts through multi-stage random sampling technique. The results of analysis showed that households' use forests for variety of purposes and most commonly used forest resources were fuelwood for energy, grass and leave fodder for livestock, leaf litter for composting and stone for construction purpose. The results of factor analysis revealed that decision factor, locational factor and household economic strengths were the most significant parameter in regulating forest resources use by the households. The results also reveals that the livelihoods of rural communities in Garhwal region is dependent on forest resources and varied household attributes were the prime cause for differential uses of forests. Therefore schemes and rural development programmes focusing on household attributes are needed to strengthen household's internal (education and health) and external (economic and social) settings along with forest conservation. Key words: Conservation; Consumption; Livelihood; Off-farm activities; Utilization.
Introduction Forests provide numerous goods and services to the adjacent communities and therefore facilitate in sustaining their livelihood (Warner, 2000). In variety of cases, the contributions of forests goods and services are much more than sustenance of households; and also contribute to address of household disparities and adversities (Shackleton and Shackleton, 2004). Forest resources provide fuel for cooking, medicines for healthcare to the rural households (Pandey, 2009). Rural households defined as the households staying in natural environment of village playing potential role in conserving and protecting natural resources (FAO, 1994). In developing countries, majority of deprived rural households obtain various supports from forest resources from their surroundings (Twine et al., 2003). Forests in India are treated as economic resources through either supplementing or contributing to the household income and are deeply connected to cultural, social, spiritual and environmental ethos of adjoining households (PROFOR, 2013). The contribution of forest to the adjoining communities in Himalaya has been described by several researchers for fuelwood (Bhatt et al., 1994; Bhatt and Sachan, 2004; Pandey, 2009; Khuman et al., 2011; Joshi and Negi, 2011), fodder
(Sharma et al., 2009; Pandey et al., 2014; Dhanai et al., 2014), medicine (Kumar et al., 2011; Gaur and Sharma, 2011), NTFPs (Sharma et al., 2011), nutrient supplement (Maikhuri et al., 2004). Based on variety of uses of resources the above researchers have also proposed various guidelines for strengthening the forests resources. In contrasts, the forest status has not been improved rather forest degradation observed. Recent estimates of FSI (2015) reports that there is slight increase in forest cover of India which is very low to maintain the ecological balance as per the National Forest Policy of India 1988. According to the estimates of FSI (2015) a noted decrease of 268 km2 in forest cover has been reported in the study region (Uttarakhand). Therefore, the current situation demands the critical evaluation of the dependency of rural poor households on the existing forest and utilization of forest resources for future sustenance of the forests as well as for addressing the rural poverty along with conservation of forests. Since rural households in rural Himalayan region of Garhwal depend on rainfed farming therefore various household attributes including household economy and internal capability play an important role in governing forest resource utilization thus supporting and sustaining
Livelihoods of rural communities in Garhwal region dependent on forest resources and varied household attributes was the prime cause for differential uses of forests. 1
Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education, Dehradun (Uttarakhand)
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Forest resource utilization pattern and heterogeneity in rural household characteristics...
livelihood. In this context to understand the relationship between forest resource extraction and rural households the study was carried with the hypothesis that heterogeneity in household characteristics governs the forest use. To confirm the hypothesis, the present study focuses on assessment of linkages between the household characteristics and forest resource utilization which will help in enhancing the understanding of forest resources use under the heterogeneity of household attributes. Such evaluation will also facilitate the options for formulation of suitable policy and programmes focusing on forest conservation and poverty reduction. Material and Methods Study area Garhwal Himalaya spread over in an area of 29,089 km2 between the altitude of 500 m to more than 7,000 m amsl and lies between the latitude 29˚31' 9'' N - 31˚26' 5'' N and longitude 77˚33' 5'' E - 80˚6' 0'' E, in the state of Uttarakhand. The climate of the region in general is temperate with annual precipitation of 1248 mm (IMD, 2016). Forests are the most valuable natural resource of the region and can be classified into tropical-subtropical, sub temperate, temperate sub-alpine and alpine zone (Rawat, 2002). Forests provide variety of services to adjoining communities and agriculture is the primary profession of most of the households (Sharma et al., 2009). Cultivation practices are mainly confined to the adjoining areas of the water bodies and mainly rainfed agriculture is prevalent in the region. Methodology The study was carried out in two districts of Garhwal region of Uttarakhand i.e., Rudraprayag (laying between 30˚19' to 30˚49' N Latitude and 78˚49' to 79˚21' E Longitude) and Pauri Garhwal (laying between 29˚45' to 30˚15' Latitude and 78˚24' to 79˚23' E Longitude) covering an area of about 2439 km2 and 5230 km2, respectively. Majority of area in the districts is under forest cover and have undulating topography. Rainfed agriculture is being practiced by the farmers in the area with high dependency on the forests (GOI, 2014). The households being the primary sampling units were selected through multistage random sampling and required data was collected from the head of 454 randomly selected households during the year 20142016. In the first stage of sampling, two districts were selected randomly followed by altitude wise selection of villages in proximity to forest from these selected districts in second stage and in last stage, the sampling units i.e. households were selected randomly. Pre-tested semi-structured questionnaires were used to collect primary data after obtaining the ethical clearance and
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prior oral consent from the informants. The questionnaire was divided into three sections. The first section contains the household level personal information including demographic details of the household. The second section contains the taxonomical details of forest resources used by the households. The comprehensive list of forest resources was prepared based on available literature and discussion with the locals and authors own acquaintance of the region. The third section contains the purpose of resource uses. The mode of communication was local dialect i.e., Garhwali language and Hindi language, in which the first author was conversant. For estimation of fuelwood and fodder consumption, weight survey method was used. Initially, a wood lot and grass lot was weighed and the sampled household asked to use fuelwood and fodder from the given bundles only. After a period of 24 hours the amount of left over fuelwood and fodder was deducted from the original weight in order to obtain the actual consumption per day in each sampled household. The procedure as given by Mitchell (1979) was used for fuelwood consumption estimated using the following equation: TFu Fu= TH C m Where, Fu is per day per capita fuelwood consumption, TFu c is total fuel consumption per household and THm is total number of members in the household. Fodder consumption per adult cattle unit (ACU) per day was estimated by converting all livestock into adult cattle unit and then dividing total fodder consumption by ACU. Following equation was used to calculate the fodder consumption: TFo Fo= T c ACU Where, Fo is per day per ACU fodder consumption, TFoc is total fodder consumption per household, and TACU is total number of adult cattle unit in a household. The ACU values was estimated as per the following details i.e., for 1 Ox = 1.15 ACU, 1 cow = 1 ACU, young stock of buffalo/cow = 0.75 ACU, sheep or goat = 0.15 ACU (Yang, 1971) and 1 buffalo = 1.50 ACU (G.B. Pant University, 1980; Pandey, 2011a). Development of index for forest resource consumption Concept and structure of index: The forest service's were assessed by categorizing each resource as per use of the plant parts such as flower, fruit, seed, leaf, twig, bark, wood, tuber and root, grass and other product. Each forest resource category was further divided into subcategories as per their specific use by the locals. The resources used were measured on the basis of either use
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or not use by the respective household. Forest resources were further classified on the basis of their uses by the household i.e., edible, non-edible, asset formation, agricultural implements, other production inputs, medicine, sale and ritual purposes (Table 1) following the guidelines of Cavendish (2000) and Pandey (2009). The resources for each category were aggregated through indices after normalizing each sub-category through standard protocol of min-max approach (Pandey and Jha, 2012). Equal weightage approach was used for each subcategory for simplicity and easy in derivation as also used in other context by several authors (Pandey and Jha, 2012). Finally components were summed up to arrive at indices for the perception of household about the use of the forest resources in securing livelihood. The value of categories represents the overall people perception in the region about the uses of the products under the categories and offers potentiality of use of these products for household welfare. Further the generated information will assist in facilitating the formulation of guidelines to conserve the resources as well as addressing the people welfare. Computation of index: Various indices were developed and estimated after normalizing the data. The index value for each category was estimated by aggregating all the respective sub-categories as reported in Table 1 by using following equation: Where n is the number of sub-categories for the respective category. Further the index value for forest resource use was estimated by aggregating all the respective categories using following equation:
Where n is the number of categories.
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Results and Discussion In the present study the rural households of Garhwal Himalaya are primarily dependent on crop cultivation, as noted during the survey and the crop cultivation activities are predominantly women centric. Male headed households in lower, middle and higher altitudes were 77.8%, 82.2% and 83.8% respectively (Table 2). Agriculture practices in the study area were prevalent and accounts as primary source of income for about 54.4%, 65.8% and 70.6% households in lower (1600 m) altitudes respectively. Livestock rearing was commonly practiced by rural households for variety of purposes. Farming in Garhwal Himalaya was primarily of subsistence nature and mainly depends on rain. To enhance crop productivity and soil fertility the households use bio-fertilizer i.e., mixture of dung and litter as manure in their agricultural fields. Due to subsistence agriculture, forest resource utilization was critical in sustaining livelihood of rural households as reported by the villagers. Apart from agricultural activities, rural households were also engaged in other occupations such as labor work, skilled job, salaried job, value addition work of forest products, driver as noted during the survey. Due to low availability of resources and limited opportunity for income generation, most of the households were engaged in more than one economic activity. Similar findings have also been reported (Pandey, 2010) for the Jaunsar region of Uttarakhand Himalaya. In the study area, crop farming was predominately rainfed and harvested crops were not reported sufficient by households to supplement the annual household consumption, making households vulnerable to food sufficiency. Moreover, most of households preferred to engage themselves in various off-farm activities such as
Table 1: Category and sub-category of various forest resources. Category Sub-category (Use by household) Flower Juice (FLJ); Vegetable (FLV); Decoration (FLD); Other use (FLO) Fruit Fruit/Nut (FRFN); Juice (FRJ); Pickle (FRP); Other use (FRO) Seed Shampoo (SESH); Seed (SESE) Leaf Vegetable (LEV); Fodder (LEFO); Insect repellent (LEIR); Litter/compost (LELI); Tooth cleaning (LETC); Plate (LEP); Other use (LEO) Twig Fuel (TWFU); Tooth cleaning (TWTC); Other use (TWO) Bark Fibre (BKF); Spices (BKS); Shampoo (BKSH);Other use (BKO) Wood Firewood (WOFU); Roof beam (WORB); Cattle hut (WOCH); Doors and frame (WODF); Window (WOWN); Agricultural implement (WOAI); Household items (WOHI); Furniture (WOF); Bio fencing (WOBF) Tuber and root Vegetable (TUV); Root (TUR) Grass Fodder (GRFO); House broom (GRBR); Basket (GRBS); Cattle shed (GRCS); Mat (GRMT); Other use (GRO) Other forest product Mushroom (OTMU); Resin (OTRE); Grazing (OTGRA); Water (OTWAT); Fish (OTFI); Stone (OTST); Other (OTO)
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Table 2: Demographic profile of the study region. Parameter
Male headed households (%) Female headed households (%) Literacy of head of household (%) Family size (number) Fuelwood consumption/household/day (kg) Fodder consumption/household/day (kg) Fuelwood consumption/capita/day (kg) Fodder consumption/ACU/day (kg)
labour work, piece work, business for income generation to meet the basic requirements of household welfare. These off-farm activities facilitated them to diversify their livelihoods to reduce their susceptibility and to strengthen their family income, as revealed by the households. This survival strategy adoption helped households to cope with food insecurity. Forest resource utilization The results and observation of the present study represents that rural households of Garhwal Himalaya rely on forest resources to meet their basic needs. Gathering of variety of resources from forests for self consumption and income generation such as fruits, leaves, tubers, various uses of wood for construction, agricultural implements; other non-wood resources were prevalent in the study region (Table 3). In the present study most of the households were using wood and grass resources commonly for cooking food and feeding their livestock respectively. The analysis of results show that the fuelwood consumption in higher altitude was maximum (2.91 ± 0.09 kg/capita/day) and minimum (1.53 ± 0.03 kg/capita/day) reported in lower altitude. The values estimated in the present study are consistent with the reported estimates by Joshi and Negi (2011) for Western Himalayan region (1.57 and 1.75 kg/capita/day in the oak and pine forest dominated villages respectively). Similar value (1.49 kg/capita/day) was also reported by Bhatt et al. (1994) for lower altitude villages of Western Himalaya. High consumption of fuelwood in the present study can be apparently attributed to family size increasing with altitude, adult cattle unit, space heating during winter, low family income and low availability of alternative sources of energy, as observed during the study and was also revealed by the villagers. Several studies were also carried out by other researchers (Bhatt and Sachan, 2004; Kumar and Sharma, 2009; Khuman et al., 2011) reporting that the fuelwood consumption pattern in India is principally influenced by different seasons. Fodder such as tree leaves, grasses, shrubs from forests
Lower (1600 m)
77.8 22.2 86.8 4.6 6.784 ± 0.19 32.43 ± 1.33 1.53 ± 0.03 15.78 ± 0.93
82.2 17.8 85.8 4.6 10.08 ± 0.31 43.41 ± 1.40 2.30 ± 0.05 15.58 ± 0.25
83.8 16.2 83.8 5.5 15.12 ± 0.55 48.94 ± 2.55 2.91 ± 0.09 15.48 ± 0.58
was used to feed livestock to the tune of 15.48 ± 0.58, 15.58 ± 0.25 and 15.78 ± 0.93 kg/ACU/day on higher, middle and lower altitudes respectively. The findings of the study for fodder consumption are consistent with the other estimates reported (Pandey, 2011b; Dhanai et al., 2014). Since many rural households used forest products that are being used, managed and manufactured at the expenditure of household labor availability such as basket making from bamboo, juice making from wild flower and wild fruits for consumption purpose as well as for income generation which saves a part of the family income and thus making the household economically more strong. Similar characterization of forest resources on the basis of use has also been made by the Cavendish (2000) for Africa and Pandey (2009) for Jaunsar region of Uttarakhand Himalaya. Relative contribution of various forest resources to rural livelihood was assessed through indices values for categories such as flower, fruit, seed, leaf, twig, bark, wood, tuber root, grass and other forest product and is reported in Table 3. The index values for each category define the intensity of use of resources by the rural households of the Garhwal Himalaya. Higher the index value for the category shows that the collection, gathering and use of resources is more than the categories having low index values. The most commonly used forest resource category was grass (0.51); largely used for livestock fodder, house broom and grass used during ritual purpose. Other most used category by the households of the region were other forest product (0.47), flower (0.45), wood (0.44), fruit (0.42) and least used category was bark (0.10). The results of analysis showed that under other forest product category, stone from forests for construction purpose (1.00), forest used for ritual purpose (0.89), drinking water from forests (0.81) and forest land for grazing of livestock (0.71) were the most commonly used sub-categories. Under flower category; flower though used by most of households, but its use
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Table 3: Forest resource utilization by rural households of Himalaya. Forest resource (Category index value) Flower (0.45) Juice Vegetable Decoration Other use Fruit (0.42) Fruit/Nut Juice Pickle Other use Seed (0.23) Shampoo Seed Leaf (0.37) Vegetable Fodder Insect repellant Litter/ compost Tooth cleaning Plate Other use Twig (0.31) Firewood Tooth cleaning Other use Bark (0.10) Fibre Spices + Shampoo Other use Wood (0.44) Firewood Roof beam Cattle hut Door & frame Window Agriculture implement Household item Furniture Bio fencing Tuber and root (0.31) Vegetable Root Grass (0.51) Fodder House broom Basket Cattle shed Mat Other use Other forest product (0.47) Mushroom Resin Grazing Water Fish Stone Other
Anthropogenic use based on characterization of resources CNSP AI AF OPI MD SL RIT ED NE + +
+
+
1.9 -
76.7 19.8 12.1 61.2
0.7 -
12.9 33.7
-
77.1 98.4 10.4 97.4 19.4 47.8 100
1.1 17.8 -
100 31.3 100
-
+
25.1 9.9 11.2 9.9
0.4 -
+
99.3 52.4 99.7 16.7 20.5 68.7 8.1 59.6 85.2
8.2 8.1 -
+
35.0 26.4
-
+
98.9 96.9 50.8 2.6 8.1 99.8
6.4 1.8 -
+
24.9 7.9 71.1 81.3 10.6 100.0 88.5
7.9 -
+
+ +
+
+ +
+
+ + + +
+ + + + + +
+ + + +
+ + +
+
+ +
+
+ + + + + + + + +
+
+ + + + + +
+ + +
+ +
+
+ +
+
+ + +
+
Sale (%)
35.9 40.1 24.0 80.1
+
+ +
Use Proportion (%)
+
CNSP- Consumption, ED- Edible, NE- Non edible, AI- Agricultural input, AF- Asset formation, OPI- Other production unit, MD- Medicine, SL- Sale, RIT- Ritual; Values within the parenthesis are the index values for the respective categories; + sign indicates use of resources in each sub-category;
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Forest resource utilization pattern and heterogeneity in rural household characteristics...
was occasional for ritual purpose while under fruit category; fruit/nut (0.77) for edible purpose and fruit for other purpose such as for medicine and sale (0.61) were used frequently. Leaf for ritual purpose (1.00), fodder (0.99), litter (0.97) and vegetable (0.77) were commonly used resources under leaf category. Most of the households in the study region also used wood for various purposes such as firewood (0.99), cattle hut construction (0.99) and bio-fencing (0.85). Very few forest resources such as grass fodder, firewood and agricultural implements, enter into trade and assist to income generation for the households (Table 3). The forest collection at different altitude was also assessed to adjudge the inequality of forest significance across the mountainous tracts and is reported for few important resources in Fig. 1. It was observed that firewood for cooking fuel, grass fodder and leaf fodder for livestock feed, leaf litter, and stone for house construction was being collected from forests by almost all households across all the altitudinal ranges. The study results also reveals that collection of leaf vegetables for consumption purpose from forest was highest in middle altitude and lowest was observed for low altitude. Moreover collection of forest wood by households for timber for various construction purposes, furniture and for making agriculture implements was observed highest in high altitude and lowest at low altitude across the mountainous tracts. Wild fruit collection from forests largely for self consumption was observed highest in high altitude; however, a few households were selling wild fruits along the roadside for income, as observed by the researcher during field survey (Fig. 1).
Fig. 1: Proportion of households using major resources obtained from forests.
Linkages between household characteristics and forest resource utilization Factor analysis was used to identify the important attributes leading for forest resources utilization and also explaining the hidden relationship among the attributes. The result of factor analysis confirms the relative importance of the attributes in the form of uncorrelated
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factors to explain the association between the attributes (Table 4). The result of analysis revealed that un-irrigated land and irrigated land, family size and number of ACU, gender and education of head of household, forest distance and altitude, monthly income and availability of LPG facility contributes as important socio-economic parameters influencing the forest resource utilization in the present study. Based on the analysis, derived factors were named as Decision factor, Locational factor, Economic status, Household status, Land asset, and Consumption Factor. These factors' relative importance in terms of the percent variation explained for forest resource utilization is reported in table 4. The result of analysis showed that gender and education of household head significantly contributed as prime factor in decision making process with regard to the use of forest resources. Similar naming of factors for gender and age of household head has also been given by Pandey (2010) with respect to forest resource utilization. Topography or location of a region or area favored the forest resource use and collection. Economic status and Household status i.e., the availability of household facilities also governed the forest resource use. Apart from these factors availability of land asset offers the opportunity to generate income and might fulfill the need of household by providing fuelwood for burning and fodder to feed livestock. Consumption of resources generally depends on the availability and accessibility of resources on one hand as well as on the family composition on other hand. This implies that more the number of members in a family or household more will be the consumption and hence more will be the forest resource extraction. Availability and accessibility of forest resources to the households, governs the extraction of resources. Thus the results of the factor analysis in the present study revealed that the forest resource extraction is primarily depends on decision making, location, economic status, available land asset and consumption factor of a household. The consumption of fuelwood was mainly for cooking and heating purpose, while fodder collection to feed livestock was observed more than other forest resources by rural households. The role of forest resources in the present study is important for the households in terms of expenses where use and sale of forest products offer to overcome economic as well as health related adversities. The observation of the study demonstrates the high dependency of surveyed households on forest resources for food, fuelwood,
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fodder, medicine, and construction purposes, which illustrate that the forest resources make an important contribution to livelihoods and serve as assurance during adversities and therefore the study presents a clear representation of role of forest resources in fulfilling various households' needs along with livelihood improvement. As forest resource utilization is essential component of the rural households of Garhwal Himalaya, its extensive use may lead to over ex p l o i tat i o n o f re s o u rc e s , t h e refo re fo re st management and forest development programs emphasizing on conservation should be formulated in such a way that complement both economic and ecological aspects. Thus the study also suggest the implementation of sustainable forest resource management schemes which may be helpful in maintaining and enhancing the potential flow of economic benefits sustainably to the surrounding communities as also suggested by Babulo et al. (2009). Conclusion N a t u ra l e c o sy s t e m s p a r t i c u l a r l y fo r e s t ecosystems provide various services which are crucial for the upliftment of the human society. The present study findings highlight the relative significance of forest resources in improving the livelihood of rural households by fulfilling basic requirements, concluding that forest resources use is very essential component for the survival of rural households of Garhwal
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Himalaya. Thus for clear understanding the results of the study suggests that information on the quantity, quality and economic importance of natural resources and assessment of the linkages of natural ecosystems with human well-being is needed. Since patterns of forest resource use is region specific therefore policy makers must consider such policy implementation, focusing on the forest conservation as well as which will help in providing the alternative of these resources. This may be possible either by building rural household's capacity to generate resources by their own or by providing some alternative measures through various initiatives which could be achieved through the development of sustainable forest resource management schemes to maintain and enhance economic benefits to the rural households without depleting the natural resources. Some of the suggested measures to reduce the extraction rate could be the use of alternative sources of fuelwood and fodder through agroforestry, community forestry practices and planting trees on the fallow land or on land around the habitation. Similar measures have also been suggested by Pandey et al. (2014). Such practices will assist in reducing forest based emissions resulting due to unsustainable use of resources, along with conservation of natural resources and carbon stocks enhancement in a sustainable manner and thus will facilitate rural livelihood as well as forest management sustainably.
Table 4: Factors with loadings for attributing forest resource utilization in Garhwal Himalaya. Parameter
Factor 1
2
3
4
5
6
Household head gender
0.896
0.072
-0.006
-0.002
0.029
-0.027
Household head education
0.840
-0.045
0.177
0.139
0.035
-0.079
Forest distance
0.032
0.895
0.032
-0.022
0.024
-0.032
Altitude
0.000
0.816
-0.098
0.069
0.042
0.161
Monthly income
0.078
-0.060
0.818
-0.084
0.168
0.122
LPG availability
0.109
-0.007
0.741
0.288
-0.227
-0.143
Primary source of income
0.067
-0.107
0.048
-0.852
-0.012
0.008
Electricity facility
0.226
-0.065
0.182
0.744
0.068
0.041
Irrigated land
0.195
-0.104
-0.153
-0.039
0.812
-0.076
Un-irrigated land
-0.171
0.280
0.241
0.170
0.715
0.058
Adult cattle unit
-0.023
0.048
-0.138
-0.018
0.185
0.837
Family size
-0.095
0.094
0.193
0.051
-0.292
0.730
13.8
13.3
11.9
11.9
11.5
10.9
Locational factor
Economic status
Household status
Land Asset
Consumption factor
Variation (%) Derived Factor name
Decision factor
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x
