0787-C1
J.P.Yadav 1
Natural resources are being degraded to meet the demand of the increasing population. This problem is compounded by the varied requirements of heterogeneous social groups of people, often enhanced by the globalisation and increased consumerism. Current management practices could not be proved adequate to meet the increased demand, hence a new participatory management approach, generally referred to as Joint Forest Management, was adopted in many countries. One of the features of the participatory approach is formulation of management plans (called microplan) which take into account different attributes of varied population and condition of natural resources. The process of microplan formulation is demonstrated in this paper for a village in India. The plan is prepared in participatory manner and it takes into account the viewpoints of different sections of society and the biophysical features of the site. In the beginning the demands and aspirations of people are assessed through a socio-economic survey and then land is divided into capability classes. Appropriate management options for the land classes constitute the microplan. Analysis of the data shows that there is considerable improvement in achieving the production and forest conservation objectives. In fact, the methodology presented in this paper is an attempt to balance different objectives.
The demand that an increasing rural populations in developing countries places on the forest resources has led to a spiral of resource depletion. The people, out of need or sometimes out of greed too, extract forest products with impunity. Forest Department (FD), the agency primarily responsible to protect the forests, tried but could not prevent the destruction. Different socio-cultural and economic groups of people put different demands on the resources. It is important to meet the differential demands to stop further degradation and to avoid conflicting situations along with judicious management of the scarce resources on a sustainable manner. With this view, an attempt has been made to arrive at a balance between the needs of different people and the productive potential of resources, particularly the forests lands. The process is demonstrated for a site in village Garjanmura of Tripura state in India. The selected site is being managed under Joint Forest Management (JFM) regime involving different stakeholders such as village households, FD, public representatives and other government officials.
The project area, located between 90˚ 25′ and 90˚ 30′ East longitude and 23˚ 30′ and 23˚ 35′ North latitude, is surrounded by R.K. Pur Reserved Forest and Bagabasa village in North, Amtali village in Southeast, Hadra village in East and Totabari and Shilghati villages in West. The village people reside in southern side amid scattered agricultural land. In the north side most of tillas2 are under vegetation while relatively levelled lungas3 are jote or private agricultural land plots. The climate of the place is warm and humid with three distinct seasons: summer, rainy and winter. The recorded maximum temperature in summer is 35.6˚ centigrade and the minimum in winter season is 4˚ centigrade. Average rainfall in the State is about 2100 mm. Relative humidity varies from 70% to 85%.
In order to fulfil the needs of different socio-economic categories of people and the protection and conservation of forests land, a holistic microplan for the area was prepared in a participatory manner using the methodology described by Yadav (2001). The microplanning process involved assessment of resources, motivation and participation of stakeholders, fulfilment of the demands of basic goods and services, potential priority management options, design of a set of feasible management options. The various steps followed in the preparation of the microplan were site awareness, confidence building, collection of data, analysis of data, formulation of microplan and plan discussion.
Questionnaire was used for collection of socio-economic information while line transact method was followed for gathering biophysical information. Secondary data were collected from the records of Census, Panchayat, District, Block and other offices (Census, 1991; ODM&C, 2000); OCFSC, 2000). For designing agroforestry models, help of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) was taken (ICARJD, 2000). The collected data were analysed to assess the socio-economic needs and problems, and biophysical potential and requirements.
The results of analysis were used to prescribe a number of alternative management options, which could be taken up in order to meet the needs of the people and which, at the same time, took care of ecological stability. Out of many alternative management options, few most appropriate were selected to formulate a preliminary microplan. The preliminary microplan was then discussed in a meeting of stakeholders. Suggestions were incorporated into the plan to develop a final microplan. This microplan takes into account the information available at the time of study.
The total area of the project is 594.50 ha. The land belongs to FD (210.66 ha), Government (9.84 ha) and private households (374 ha). The different land uses are agriculture (275 ha), residential (81.84 ha), roads/path/market/offices (6 ha), lakes/pond (3 ha), forests (210 ha), plantations (8 ha) and wasteland (10 ha). The terrain of the area is undulating with low hillocks traversed by lunga lands and small streamlets. The different categories are table upland (61.10 ha), slope land (134.66 ha), plain lowland (13.90 ha) and streams (1 ha). Soil is mostly loamy sand rich in humus and rootstock of plant species (mainly Sorea robusta).
The forests of the area, categorised earlier as East Himalayan Lower Bhabhar Sal (Champion and Seth, 1968), but presently seven types of vegetation can be distinguished over the area. These are: sal (Shorea robusta) regeneration zone; mixed old forest; stunted/scrub vegetation; bamboo patch; rubber plantation; pineapple orchard; and scattered vegetation. Almost all the plain lowland is under agriculture. There are two cropping seasons: Rabi (November to March) and Kharif (June to September). Some biophysical problems are soil erosion, low moisture retention, decreasing soil fertility and biotic interference.
As per 1991 Census, the total population of the village is 4,750 (Male-2,115, Female-2,635) comprising of 850 households. The different social population categories are scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and general castes. The tribal people from villages surrounding the Reserved Forest areas have the right to collect forest produce during the period of three months from January to the end of March every year, free of royalty, for their bonafide needs. People practice farming and livestock rearing. Majoriy of the households are poor. They live on subsistence economy. Illiteracy is prevalent.
People need a number of products for their survival and other purposes. Some of products are basic and they are to be made available, while others are for socio-cultural or quality improvement purposes. The difference in supply and demand of different products is given in Table 1.
Table 1: Calculation of difference between demand and supply
Item |
Demand |
Supply |
Surplus(+) |
Foodgrain |
855 ton |
980 ton |
125 (+) |
Timber |
105 cum |
150 cum |
45.5 (+) |
Fuelwood |
3829 cum |
3829 cum |
Unsustainable |
Bamboo |
202968 |
1,50,000 |
52,968 (-) |
Thatch |
589 ton |
- |
In short supply |
Fodder |
23383 ton |
11006 ton |
12377 (-) |
On the basis of people's needs, socio-economic problems and biophysical possibilities, priority management options were designed keeping in view the aims of management and different socio-economic and biophysical considerations. The land of the village was divided into nine classes on the basis of topographic, vegetation, soil and land use characteristics. The possible activities (options) which could be taken up on each land class were identified as shown in Table 2.
Table 2: Land classes and most potential management options
Land Class |
Description |
Area (in ha) |
Management Options |
F-I |
Tilla Upland and Tilla Slope (gentle to moderate) |
167.10 |
|
F-II |
Tilla Slope (moderate to steep) |
27.00 |
|
F-III |
Plain Lowland (lunga land) |
13.90 |
|
F-IV |
Water bodies |
1.00 |
|
F-V |
Bastu (residential) land |
1.66 |
|
P-I |
Homestead Private Land |
81.84 |
b. Mushroom cultivation c. Making of bamboo and cane products d. Poultry, bee keeping, duckery and piggery e. Supply of solar cookers f. Bio gas plants g. Sulabh latrines and bathrooms in the village h. Clay pitcher production |
P-II |
Cultivated land |
275.00 |
|
P-III |
Wasteland |
10.00 |
|
P-IV |
Miscellaneous use |
17.00 |
Use for rubber cultivation, fishing, water sports and improvement of existing infrastructure |
Based on the management options as shown in Table 2, a complete set of 39 activities to be taken up under the project along with their quantity was developed. The plan included duties, mutual obligations and responsibilities of different stakeholders. Proper implementation of the microplan is expected to balance the needs of people with the productive capacity of resources in a sustainable manner. The prescriptions under this microplan are expected to provide the following:
Acknowledgements: The author wishes to thank the staff of Udaipur Forest Division, Members of Village Panchayats, Conservator of Forests, Southern Circle, Udiapur, Joint Director, ICAR, Lembucherra and many others including citizens of Garjanmura village for their help in various ways to complete this work.
Census, 1991. Census of India, Government of India, New Delhi.
Champion, H.G. and S.K. Seth, 1968. General Silviculture for India. Government of India, Publications Branch, Delhi.
ICARJD, 2000. Joint Director, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Lembucherra, West Tripura District, India.
OCFSC, 2000. Office of the Conservator of Forest Southern Circle, Department of Forests, Tripura, Udaipur, India.
ODM&C, 2000. Office of the District Magistrate and Collector, Government of Tripura, Udaipur, Tripura, India.
Yadav, J.P. 2001. Microplanning - A Guide to Participatory Natural Resource Management. Natraj Publishers, Dehradun, India. 149 pp.
1 Post-doctoral Fellow, Faculty of Forestry, University of Toronto, Canada.
33 Willcocks Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 3B3
E-mail: [email protected]; Tel. 905 276 6191
2 Raised land area with gentle to moderate slopes.
3 Low land between tillas and/or hillocks.