06-bioresourcesstatu.. - M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation

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Malvan
Amongst the type of fish processed exported
prawns are prominent. The other fish are Ribbon
fish, King fish, shrimps, fin fish and a variety
locally called Mhukul, Squid and Cuttle fish. Black
Pomfret is also processed.
The feed is contributed by pulses - dry leaves and
husks. The noteworthy feed is Avicennia, a
mangrove, where the leaves and tender branches
are fed to cattle, especially milching animals.
The fish processing unit, Amison Fishery, has
suspended the processing since October 2001
for theperiod of one year becauseit is declared
as "fish famine", said the official. TheAmison
Fishery last year could send only 33 containers
to JNPT for export in place of 103earlier year.
Theprocessed fish is exported (100%export) to
Japan, China, Malaysia, Hong Kong, UK,etc.
b. FodderlFirewood, Timber:
Fodder is generally obtained from wild species of
grass and herbs and shrubs growing naturally on
hill slopes and all around. The cattle is left in
mangroves for grazing.
Firewood is collected from natural forests of the
western Ghat (western Ghat is at door-step of local
people). On many occasions Australian Acacia is
also used for firewood. This species is planted by
Social Forestry Department of Maharashtra State.
Aegiceras corniculatum and many mangrove
species are used as firewood.
Timber species are teak, Terminalias and other
plants in wild. The important one is wild mango
tree, which is used for making boxes for Alphonso
mango export to other states of India.
House construction is dependent on teak, Jamun
(Scyzigyum), Terminalias, Sonneratia,
Cyanometra (for fencing) Excoecaria (fencing)
and Aegiceras (fencing). Vitex, Adhatoda
also used for fencing.
etc. are
Bioactive-medicinal products : There is a huge
list of plants under this category (Annexure I).
To name a few, Kokam apart from edible fruit wall,
has got medicinally important oil in the seeds.
Xylocarpus is threatened because its seeds are
used in domestic treatment of illness. Adhatoda is
in commercial trade. Many other mangrove species
are said to have medicinal properties.
NTFP/NWTP/MFP : Gums, resins, merabollans,
Calophylluym inophyllum fruits are the
examples of NTFP/MFP. Fruits of Sonneratia
caseolaris are edible. Aegiceras corniculatum is
known for its honey and Salvadora
used as 'tooth brush'.
sticks are
70
Potential Genetic Resources : The area falls in
one of the 12 centres of Biodiversity, the Western
Ghat area. Moreover, it has wealth of marine flora
and fauna alongwith corals. So there are plenty of
wild Genetic Resources. However, there is no work
undertaken in any of the institution.
Microbes: Rhizobium, Azotobactor, Vermicompost,
are the examples of microbes which need to be
dealth with.
Ornamentals : In ornamentals Orchids are
important species, which have good biodiversity in
the region. There are many species of
Zirgiberaceae family and enough wild fiora. There
is a variety of aquatic plants, which can be used
for augmenting tanks and ponds.
ii. Domesticated Bioresources
a. Crops:
The domesticated crops which constitute the
domesticated bioresources could be classified into
the categories namely, cereals, pulses, oil crops
and horticultural crops.
Cereals : Among the cereals paddy is the most
important resource. The area under paddy
cultivation is 12094 ha in Malvan Tahsil, which
includes both indigenous as well as hybrid
varieties.
The indigenous varieties yield 23 quintaVha and
the hybrid varieties yield 50 quintal/ha, on an
average. Ratnagiri-24 is a very famous hybrid
variety of Paddy.
Total land under paddy cultivation in Sindhudurg
district is 74278 ha and out of this 15.98% is in
Malvan Tahsil, which is third largest Tahsil in the
district as per the area under paddy. The yield of
paddy is around 23 quintaVha. The hybrid variety
yields, around 50 quintaVha. The yield is mostly
used domestically. The next important cereal is
Eleusine (Nachni), which occupies an area of 800
ha across the Tahsil. Setaria italica is another
potential cereal.
Pulses : The area under cultivation of pulses is
750 ha across the Tahsil. The major pulses are
moong, Mycrotilema uniflora, Lablab
perpurens.
Map 5 indicates that out to total agricultural
production 50% is rice, 20% is horticultural and
30% is other crops.
Oil Crops: Groundnut is the major oil crop, which
occupies an area of around 200 ha. The other oil
crops being grown domestically are seasamum,
Guzotia abyssinica.