NTFPs on Nakai Plate.. - TABI

7 Conclusions
7.1 What is the present use of NTFP’s in the area?
Interviewed villagers could identify 306 species of NTFP’s: 223 food products and 67 nonfood
products. Among the food products, 50 species of edible leaves, 50 fruit species, 31
mammals, 28 fishes were identified.
Kisi resin (damar resin from Shorea sp.), fish/frogs, edible rattan shoots (Raphis sp. and
Daemonorops schmidtii), cardamom (Amomum sp.) and wildlife (10%) are considered by
villagers to be the most important products from the forest. Food products are more numerous
and considered more important (56%) than non-food products (44%).
According to ranking exercises, done with groups of villagers, NTFP’s account for 76 % of
average family income over all five villages surveyed. Livestock sales are the second most
important source of income (16%). Within the NTFP’s, kisi resin (14%), fish (12%),
cardamom (11%) and wildlife (10 %) are the most important products sold.
In the same exercise, we used to ask villagers to also rank their main expenditures. Buying
rice (18%), other food (14%), clothes (13%) and medicines (12%) are considered as the main
family expenditures.
According to a survey over 100 out of 191 individual households in the five villages visited,
family economies derived 41% of their income from NTFP’s, 32% from livestock sales and
28% form other sources in 1996. They spent 65% of their income on buying rice in 1996.
These data differ from the outcome of the ranking exercise. Group discussions may
underestimate the income from livestock. At any rate NTFP’s are by far the most important
source of income in all villages.
Unprecedented floods destroyed most rice crops in the wet season of 1996, therefore most
families must spent their entire income on buying rice in 1997. Many families will not be
able to find enough money to satisfy their needs in rice, even though they will sell more
livestock and increase their collection of NTFP’s.
The absolute amount of money earned from NTFP’s per family does not differ very much
between poor and rich families. However, in poor families NTFP’s are often the only source
of income, they do not have access to other options such as livestock raising, salaries or
trading (see table 11).
This finding has important implications for the planning of all income generating and social
activities in the resettlement scheme. Poor families the are most vulnerable when access to
NTFP’s is going to be reduced by the inundation of the former collection areas by the
reservoir. Development agencies working with these families may want to develop special
measures to counterbalance such losses.
From the survey, kisi resin comes forward as the most important NTFP for income
generation, going up from 28% of NTFP based family income in 1996 to 56% of average
family income in 1997 (see table 8). Curiously rattan shoots have come up to second place in
1997, replacing bong bark which has been greatly reduced. This means that rattan shoots are