It is possible that the local (village) market price we used to value subsistence products resulted in some over-valuation, i.e., that the price of actual exchanges is higher than subsistence users would be willing or able to pay. However, the local fuelwood price of Rs. 2/kg, or about US$0.046/kg, is consistent with household level prices reported from other villages in Jharkhand and neighboring Orissa (Pravat Kumar Mishra, Pers. Comm.) and is well within the range of subsistence fuelwood prices found in the PEN studies.
As expected, forest products contribute more to livelihoods in both absolute and relative terms in the zones with higher forest cover. Several villages have some commercial fuelwood production and sales. The other main forest products with significant value are kendu leaf (Diospyros melanoxylon) that is used as cigarette wrappers in traditional cigarettes, a range of grass species used for fodder, and small amounts of timber, bamboo, and various NTFPs used in small quantities.
The findings provide an important contrast to the impression that is given by qualitative studies of forest products collection, use, and trade that typically generate extensive lists of useful products (de Beer and McDermott, 1989 and Neumann and Hirsch, 2000). While there is a wide diversity of useful forest products (there is an impressive range of NTFPs available at local markets in Jharkhand), very few contribute substantially in value terms to household incomes, even in remote forested areas. It must be kept in mind, however, that there are restrictions on the use of state forests by local people, and these restrictions are enforced by state forest guards. Without these restrictions, local people might be able to benefit more from the nearby forests. It is also possible that there was under-reporting of harvesting that is currently illegal.
Kendu leaf is the only regulated NTFP1 in the list, with government controls on the market. Other studies have highlighted the inefficiencies of the managed market for kendu (Saxena, 2003). In Jharkhand, the trade is managed by the Jharkhand State Forest Development Corporation (JSFDC), which authorizes traders and controls price. The JSFDC has a large staff with commensurate overhead and is criticized for the low prices received by leaf harvesters. A new system of minimum support price for minor forest products was introduced in 2011 to deal with some of these problems (Sambhav, 2011). Efforts to facilitate an open market while providing information and support to producers could result in higher earnings and reduced waste. It might be possible to increase opportunities in that sector through policy, institutional, and technical interventions.
It is noteworthy that the “forest business income” category is very low in all villages. There is little post-harvest processing and little local value-added. The main exceptions are leaf plates, which are produced in rudimentary household operations, and so called “country liquor” distilled from fermented mahua flowers. (The distilling process creates high demand for fuelwood.) Considering the extremely poorly developed economy in the study area, it is reasonable to speculate that forest products could contribute more under better circumstances. With little bargaining power, high competition because of the lack of alternative income sources, and poor infrastructure, it is difficult for producers to capture the benefits of improved quality, so there is little incentive to invest in improved production, processing, or marketing. But unless and until the opportunities forest business income will be severely constrained.
Several important agroforest products are produced in the study area. Lac (a resin produced by the insect Kerria lacca (Kerr)), used as the main ingredient in wood polish, pharmaceutical glazes, and food additives, is produced on wild and planted trees such as Ber (Ziziphus mauritiana) and Kusum (Schleichera oleosa), mainly on land outside of the forest estate. Mahua flower (Madhuca longifolia) is used in brewing “country liquor”, and as food and fodder. Mahua is a long lived, sometimes very large tree produced mainly on private land, outside the forest estate.
Tree products produced on farms (agroforestry) provide significant rural income in the HFLA zone, but not elsewhere. It is counterintuitive that the contribution from agroforest products is highest in villages where forest cover is high and road access is low (Figure 3). For our study area, the most significant agroforest product is lac, which is found only in a few villages in a particular district in the HFLA zone. This does not seem to be a response to remoteness but reflects the context specificity of land, planting materials, and the available market network. A local entrepreneur has specialized in lac trading, helping to build a market that in turn has stimulated increased production by local farmers. This suggests that there is potential to increase the contribution of trees on farms if basic enabling conditions (especially market access) are fulfilled.
(c). Forest reliance
In the overall set of households, levels of forest income well within the typical range of we find the oft-reported pattern (Vedeld et al., 2007 and Kamanga et al., 2009) that relative income from forest products tends to be higher for the poorest even while the absolute income from forest products is higher for better-off households. Many analysts have attributed significance to this fact, suggesting that high “forest reliance” or “forest dependency” (defined as the forest-based proportion of total income) of poorer households indicates that forests are disproportionately important to the poor for poverty mitigation and serve to reduce income inequality.
In the Jharkhand case, the pattern seems to be an artifact of the fact that all households use fuelwood, fodder (where livestock are important), and other forest products to meet subsistence needs and for generating cash income. Forest is only slightly more important for subsistence than for cash income in the two HF zones, where more resources are available, while in the LFHA zone forest products are primarily used for subsistence purposes. But, as noted above, the overall village income portfolios have very similar composition, differing mainly in quantities of some components across income classes within zones. Lower income households tend to have disproportionately less of some categories of income, most notably “trade and salary” income, thus increasing the proportion of forest income by default. If poorer households rely more on forests in relative terms, it is likely a passive effect of lower overall income.
Table 3 shows that higher income classes use significantly more forest products than lower income classes. Higher income households have disproportionately higher incomes from some forest product types. For example, the highest income class in the HFLA zone uses more than four times as much fuelwood as the next lower income class and nearly 25 times the quantity used by the lowest income class. Medicinal plants are also significantly more important in higher income classes in all zones while fodder, kendu, fruit, and timber are all significantly higher in higher income households in the two HF zones. On average, the highest income households earn more than 16 times as much from forest products as the lowest income households, and for some households this forest income is sufficient to raise the household one or more classes.