Harnessing Hidden Treasure Trove

Jharkhand, the “land of forest” is bestowed with rich natural vegetation. Out of over 20 million populations, 28% is tribal while 12% of the people belong to SC. Jharkhand has forests spread over 23,605 sq. km, that is, 29.61 per cent. Here, eight out of ten tribal live in and around forests. About 60 per cent of these tribal are dependent on forests. Despite this, it is a matter of extreme concern that not much is being done to put forests to good use and generate revenue. For instance, Karanj, which is available in plenty in forest of Jharkhand, once refined properly, can be used in cosmetics Industry as well as substitute for coconut or mustered oil. Similarly, Lac, another MFP, of which Jharkhand is the leading producer (the state contributes 40 per cent of the total lac production of the country) offers excellent scope for enhancing the shelf life of certain fruits and vegetables. Further, a number of gums produced here, like karaya, are used in the processed foods. Mahua, another MFP, is a health food often eaten in villages by pregnant and lactating women. Tendu leaves are found abundantly in Jharkhand. These fetch the state around ₹5000 million but this figure can go up exponentially, if the leaves are used more meaningfully.

Jharkhand forests exhibit tremendous biological and geophysical diversity. Tribal people living in and around the forest areas are engaged in the collection of leaves, barks, gums, roots, flowers, fruits and entire plants from the forest areas for their livelihood. Due to variations of altitude and rainfall, diverse types of economically important species are available. Many of these are medicinally and industrially important and value addition preposition in these MFPs could provide wonderful livelihood to the poor tribal. Usha Martin University, through its outreach programmes intends to achieve these objectives by organizing awareness programmes.

Dr Alok Sahay, Campus Director, Usha Martin University