0229-B2
V.R. Rayudu[1]
The paper, whilst exploring the value of Non-Wood Forest Produce (NWFP) in contributing to the sustainability of forest-based communities, focuses on the collection of gum from Sterculia urens and its propagation in the forest areas of state of Andhra Pradesh (A.P.) in India. The economic importance of the gum is acknowledged in providing sustainable livelihoods for the forest-dwelling communities, especially the tribal people. It explores the history of gum collection from this tree and the resultant destruction of this species because of poor technology and irregular tapping practices. The quality of the tapped gum has deteriorated because of crude blazing techniques and poor handling and storage practices. It traces the attempts made by some botanists to improve the situation with scant results in quality improvement of gum through changes in handling processes. They have not been successful at all in introducing tapping methods that would help conservation of trees and improve the quantity of the tapped gum.
Hence, Laya, a non-profit organization based at Visakhapatnam, India, initiated seed and vegetative experiments in a nursery to identify propagation techniques of Sterculia urens. The seed related experiments revealed positive results: the germination period of the seeds, the density of seed requirement in the nursery beds, the percentage of survival. It was also found the survival of seedlings was almost nil in waterlogged conditions because the tuber, which develops in the radicle whilst germinating, decays in waterlogged conditions. The vegetative propagation experiments revealed less percentage of survival. The results of these experiments are being disseminated in the state and other parts of the country to restore endemic species diversity in the area and improve livelihood opportunities for the tribal communities.
Meanwhile the state government has come forward with a large-scale Sterculia urens plantation in degraded forestlands. Tribal inhabitants are also being encouraged to grow selected NWFP species as block plantations around their habitations, with each family growing a plantation in about 10 ha. This will ensure forest conservation as well as contribute to the sustainability of forest-based communities.
Andhra Pradesh is the traditional home of nearly 33 tribal groups and most of these communities are found inhabiting in the forests. The population density in tribal areas is 125 persons per sq.km as against 194 in the plain areas. Visakhapatnam district has the highest number of Scheduled villages. In the region almost all the tribals are engaged in agriculture and collection of Non Wood Forest Produce (NWFP). However the land less poor tribals survive on hand to mouth existence. Their major occupation and source of economy is collection of NWFP. In the region Gum, Palm fibre, Marketing nuts, Annato seeds, Tamarind, Adda leaves, Glutia Bark, Brooms, honey are the important Non Wood Forest Produce. About 50% of their income source is from agriculture produce and for the rest they depend on surrounding forest.
Forest region of Andhra Pradesh State, covers all the reserve forest blocks and non-reserve forest blocks. Indigenous people have been living in this region since times immemorial and their survival has been based on the collection of various NWFP from the forest. The general configuration of forest region of AP is hilly with steep slopes. The area bears variety of valuable forests. Here, the southern tropical secondary dry deciduous forests extensively available. These forests have rich floristic composition. The collection of NWFP is only income source to the land less tribals residing in the area.
Presently the local poor are involved in collection of 36 items of NWFP from forests. Since three decades severe deforestation has been taken place due to various reasons and there is a pressure on economically important forest species available in existing forests. Since four decades the collection process of NWFP has not been systematically standardized. Over the years the forests have been valued primarily as a source of timber and the department paid attention for important timber species conservation. On the other hand the forest department is looking at forest as a source of economy. Decrease of economically important NWFP species has not planed for conservation. Lack of conservation practices, lack of systematic collection process, the NWFP species are highly exploited. Some of the species are in highly endangered stage and the other species are in past disappearing stage.
Gum is one of the economically important forest produce mostly extracted from the species Sterculia urens. During the peak season on an average a tribal family can earn a sum of Rupees 3000 per month if the forest is abundant source of trees. In AP 10,000 tribal families are involved in collection of gums from the forests. Due to lack of scientific method of procurement of NWFP collection, particularly most of the Sterculia urens trees have been wiped out from the area. This is why there is a threat to economically important species, tree-diversity and indigenous People’s livelihood. Hence there is a need to restore Sterculia urens and other important NWFP species under threat in the forests by observing and studying different propagation methods and standardize systematic collection practice which will help for sustainability.
In India the tree occurs in the outer Himalayas and sub Himalayan tract from the Ganges to east words, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Central India, Deccan, and on the West Coast in Konkan, and North Kanara; it is also been recorded from the Lushai hills in Mizoram. The species Sterculia urens is commonly found in the dry deciduous forests of Andhra Pradesh. The bark of the tree is white however the peeling bark is like paper flakes and grayish white to reddish colour. The leaves are crowded at the end of the branches, and palmately-5-lobed, 20 to 30 cm diameter. The flowers are greenish yellow, small and panicles are terminal. Each inflorescence has 4 to 6 follicles, Ovoid, Oblong, 2.5 cm diameter. The seeds are 3 to 6 in a fruit it is oblong and light black.
In Andhra Pradesh State, the species growth is found to be common in the 400 mm - 1300 mm rainfall areas of the forests. Interactions with the tribal gum collectors of these area and a number of intensive forest visits, it was found that in the past four decades (1960 to 1990) most of the Sterculia urens trees died due to lack of standardized gum tapping practices. It was estimated that around 80% percent of the trees died from the forest areas of Andhra Pradesh. Still the species are found in Bhadrachalam forest area of Khammam district, Nallamalai forest area comprising Prakasam, Kurnool and Mahaboobnagar districts, Rampachodavaram forest areas of East Godavari district, Utnoor, Mancherial forest areas of Adilabad district. It is also found in foothills of Paderu agency, Visakhapatnam district, Parvatipuram agency parts of Vizianagaram district, Eturunagaram forest area of Warangal district, Yerramalai forest hills in Chittoor and Cuddapah district. In Andhra Pradesh the habitat of the trees is in rocky soils, plain rocks, clay lands. It was observed that the trees are growing vigorously in complete rocky lands and clay soils.
In view of this problem, the following suggestions are offered for restoring bio-diversity and provide better socio economic living conditions to the indigenous people.
In this context the possible alternatives include
¨ Respond to their problems from local to national levels
¨ Promote bio-diversity through identifying and propagating techniques to the economically important NWFP species
¨ Develop better propagation methods for economic important forest species
¨ Promote systematic & scientific collection practices for NWFP species.
¨ Restoration of Sterculia urens in the forests
¨ Mobilize the community for scientific collection of NWFP
¨ Adoption research for local knowledge systems
¨ Applied research to their produce
¨ Value addition to the Non Wood Forest Produce and promote economically important forest species in degraded forest lands.
¨ Develop technologies to retain soil nutrients
¨ Develop technologies to water conservation
There are various common gums yielding trees in these forests. Among them Sterculia urenus, Cocholospermum religiosum, Anogelissus latifolia, Butea monosperma Pterocarpus marsupium, Acacia nilotica and Boswellia serrata species gum have market value.
The gum collection form Sterculia urens species was started during nineteen sixties. At that time the method the tribals used to collect gum was blazing the tree trunk with an axe and collecting the executed gum. This gum was made into rounds, dried on open burning charcoal or open hearth. Till nineties, there was no advanced gum collection practice taken up by tribals of Andhra Pradesh. This method of extracting gum continued till 1992, when the state government sponsored autonomous body Girijan Cooperative Corporation Limited (GCCL) initiated a new method for gum collection and the tribals were trained by a group of freelance Botanists. The new method involves the use of sickle instead of axe in tapping gum; cleaner ways of handling and proper storage. The gum begins to exude immediately after blazing the tree, and the gum is completely white. However, if any foreign material i.e. peel bark, green leaf and other impurities may change the color of the gum. This may take the color of the impurities and turn into grey or green. Even the white colored gum will change, if the gum is stored for few months due to oxidation process and the viscosity will also decrease. Over a decade it has been observed that the quality of gums has partly increased because of the new method of collection, handling and storage, but the quality of gum has declined due to this method, which was suggested, by a group of freelance Botanists. Some of the gum pickers have expressed that the new method suggested for tapping gum is complex.
The gum exudes from the trees by tapping of blazing by stripping off the bark. The quantity of gum exudes varies from tree to tree, depending upon its genetic character and climatic conditions. It was estimated, some trees yield maximum 100 gms per blaze during peak season and 20 to 30 gms per blaze in off-season in low gum yielding trees. However, the tree exudes 500 to 750 per blaze during peak season in high gum yielding trees.
GCC has got vast monopoly right to procure NWFP. For a sample study the divisional procurement particulars of NWFP were collected from GCC Rampachodavaram Division. In the past three years, that is, from 1996-97 to 1998-99, an average 25,506.28 quintals of NWFP worth around Rs. 3,38,58,989.33 was collected per year. Out of all the NWFP, Rs.84,69,961 or 25% of the amount was received on gums, around 16% was received on Tamarind and around 8% on Glutia tree Bark. Rest 50% of the income was received on other NWFP like Myrobalans, Marking nuts, Honey, Hill Brooms and Shekakai etc.
As shown in the Diagram 1 the branch (comprises of block about 1500 families) has taken as unit for a sample study and analyzed. Gum procurement particulars were collected from Girijan Primary Cooperative Marketing Society (GPCMS), Addatigala branch for the past 7 years. The entire collection of gums is sold to the GCC. Over the past seven years the produce has drastically fallen down due to depletion of gum trees. As far as the quality of the gums is concerned, first grade quality produce was recorded around 16% during 93-94. It fell down to 5% during the year 98-99. The second grade quality was recorded around 59% in the year 93-94 and third grade quality was recorded around 23%. The second grade quality fell from 59% to 45% and the third grade quality came up from 23% to 49% during the past seven years. This happened because of failure in the new tapping method. The tribals lose about 50% of their income due to the fall in the quality. Low quantity of procurement was recorded in the months of February and March, as this is the flowering season. However, during 1998 low procurement was recorded also in August, October and November, perhaps due to the tribals’ exited with GCC in segregation of gum grades. The overall trend of gum quality shows that 50% of the gums is I or II grade and the rest, III grade. With training inputs the 50% produce of the first two grades has been constant. With more input at least 25% of the III Grade quality can be improved. The analysis reveals that the suggested new method has not given fruitful results for quality and quantity improvement. Hence an alternative method will be studied.
Diagram: 1. Grade Procurement and Trend
The flowering and fruiting season for the species Sterculia urens between January and April. The fruit ripen and seed harvest takes place between last week of April and end of May. Seeds have been collected and dried in the month of May. These seeds were sown in the nursery. In the primary beds, large-scale Sterculia urens species were also raised. Around 4 kg of seeds were sown on 22 primary beds. 7,500 seedlings were collected from nursery and planted in forestlands near Surendrapalem and Solab village. Seedlings from a few days old to 3 weeks old were transplanted into the polythene bags. It was found that few days old seedlings transplanted into polythene bags resulted in 80% percentage of survival.
Regular watering, providing thatched shade helped for the above 80% of survival rate both in primary beds and secondary beds. After the 4th day of sowing seed, sprouting was observed. In the species, radicle emergence was noticed within 5 days period, and plumule emergence was noticed within 6-7 days period. The species germination took 8 days. During the radicle emergence a small bulb like structure is formed on the radicle. These bulbs become a tuber when the species growth increases. The tuber is developed just below the collar region. It has been observed that the Sterculia urens seedlings did not tolerate water-logged conditions. However, two to three months old seedlings can withstand drought conditions.
During water logging conditions in the species, the tuber is damaged. In our experiment 10 seedlings transplanted in earmarked water logged area and it was found that five seedlings were affected due to 3-day water logging conditions.
These seedlings lost leaves and finally died. On further observation, it was noticed that the tubers were decayed. Hence it can safely be assumed that the damage of tubers is due to disconnection between the root system and shoot system. In the nursery the seed density experiment was conducted. For this experiment Sterculia urens seed 150, 200, 250 gm were sown on three separate beds. The size of these beds was 1x1 square meter. It was found that 150 gm seeds’ bed density was sufficient for seedling’s growth.
Under the experiment vegetative propagation, Sterculia urens stumps were collected from high yielding gum tree. The stumps were planted in the nursery. 50 stumps were 12c.m long 20 to 25 mm girth. 50 stumps were 12 cm long and above 30mm girth. 20 stumps were 1 ½ feet length and 60 mm girth. 30 to 40% survival was recorded from big size 20 sturdy wood stumps. However, no survival was recorded from the 12 cm long and 20 to 25 girth stumps. It was observed only 5 stumps were survived from 12 cm long and above 30mm size stumps. These stumps were rejuvenated after 20 days. No hormone treatment given for stumps.
Non-Governmental Organisations are deeply involved in conservation of NWFP species in the region. Laya, Visakhapatnam, have been conducting action research experiments for promoting quality and quantity improvement of NWFP and conservation of species. Since most of the trees wiped out from the area the following experiments are conducting for better collection practices to improve socio economic conditions of the tribals by improving quantity and quality of gum and Sterculia urens species restoration in forests through people participation.
1. Propagation by branch cutting of different sizes.
2. Seasonal effect of gum yield by applying fertilizer and moisture conservation practices.
3. Device suitable scientific and Eco-friendly method of blazing the trees for augmenting gums production and tree conservation.
4. Optimum storage methods to maintain its properties particularly color and viscosity.
The tribals feel that the NWFP is dwindling while at the same time procurement of some of the NWFP items is not worth the trouble as the amount realized by sale of produce collected by them is not commensurate with the time spent by them because of NWFP species destruction in forests. In this contest the only option is economically important species restoration in the degraded forests lands. Our preliminary propagation efforts in two areas as demonstration have given successful results. Meanwhile the government has come forward for large-scale Sterculia urens plantation in degraded forestlands. Besides that, growing selected NWFP species as block plantations around tribal habitations by the tribal inhabitants with each family growing a plantation in about 10 hectares, to serve the economic interests of growing families. These can be taken up under the auspices of Forest Protection Committees as part of Community Forest Management. Conducting of research and development and training programmes to find applications for NWFP items besides enabling tribals to produce high quality produce which will fetch good price.
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| [1] Scientist, Laya 501, Kurupam
Castle, East Point Colony, Visakhapatnam 530 017, India. Email: [email protected] |