Socio-Economic Determinants of Non-Timber Forest Product Income among Tribal Communities in the Dangs Region, Gujarat, India

The Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) are collected from forests by the tribal population and then sold to the Gujarat State Forest Development Corporation (GSFDC) which then sells collected produce in the national and international markets with or without value addition, depending upon the type of product. They serve as an essential source of income for tribal people and provide them employment at most time of year. For carrying out the present research the primary data on different income, employment and socio-economic characteristics of the respondents were collected for the year 2019-20 from selected respondents through structured interviews. In order to test which socio-economic variable influences income of NTFPs, linear regression model was used. Two talukas Ahwa and Waghai in the Dangs Region, Gujarat, India were selected randomly for the study. Five villages were selected purposively from both the talukas considering the population and marketing sites of NTFPs. 12 respondents from each village were selected randomly from NTFPs collectors. Thus, a sample of 60 respondents was selected for study. It is observed from the results of income and employment analaysis that on an average the highest income of Rs. 2901.899 per household (30.34 %) was generated through selling of Timru leaves followed by income of Rs.1958.5 per household from Mahuda seeds. On an average total 72.26 man-days of employment generated through collection of NTFPs. The highest employment of 21.40 days per households was generated from Mahuda flowers because the collection of Mahuda is labour intensive activity and time-consuming process. The results of effect of socio-economic variable on income of NTFPs revealed that the number of collectors had negative effect on NTFPs income. A unit increase in this found to reduce the income by Rs. 2240.58. Variables such as age of collector, size of family, time spent on gathering forest produces, found to have significant and positive effect on the NTFPs income. Other variables like distance travelled between home and forest for point of sale, transportation cost and education were found statistically non-significant.