TY  - BOOK
AU  - Jerin, V A 
AU  - Paul Lazarus, T (Guide)
TI  - Economic analysis of non-timber forest products in Kerala
U1  - 630.33 
PY  - 2021///
CY  - Vellayani
PB  - Department of Agricultural Economics, College of Agriculture 
KW  - Agricultural Economics
KW  - Economic analysis
KW  - Non-timber forest products
N1  - M Sc
N2  - The present study entitled “Economic analysis of Non-Timber Forest Products 
(NTFPs) in Kerala” was carried out in the Department of Agricultural Economics, 
College of Agriculture, Vellayani during the period 2019-21 to study the types and 
quantities of NTFPs collected in Kerala and to study the price behaviour of selected 
NTFPs. Analysis of factors influencing income from NTFP collection and identification
of the marketing channels for major NTFPs in Kerala were also envisaged in the study.
The study was mainly done in Kerala using secondary data collected from 
KSFSDCL and from Kerala Forest Headquarters while the primary data collection was 
from Wayanad district as it was the district having the largest NTFP collection in Kerala. 
Wayanad district comprised of two forest divisions namely North Wayanad forest 
division and South Wayanad forest division. NTFP collection was more from South 
Wayanad forest division. From the South Wayanad forest division all the three forest 
ranges were selected for the study namely Kalpetta, Meppady and Chedalath.
It was observed from the survey that young people (upto 35 years) were more 
involved in NTFP collection than other age groups. Among the NTFP collectors, 96.67 
per cent of the family heads were males while only a few (3.33 %) were females. Many 
of the NTFP collectors (47 %) had only lower and upper primary education (upto seventh
standard). The average family size of the collectors was less than four. Nearly 56.67 per 
cent of NTFP collectors were daily wage earners.
Out of the total 140 NTFPs collected in Kerala, 97 (69.28 %) were mainly used 
for medicinal purpose. On an average 39.24 lakh kilograms of NTFPs yielded a revenue 
of ₹ 3.33 crores each year. Of the total NTFP collection, highest revenue of ₹ 63.57 lakh/
year was obtained from honey, while the major quantity of production was from Sida 
cordifolia (2.43 lakh kg/ year).
Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) analysis was employed to analyse the 
price behaviour of NTFPs in Kerala from 2000-01 to 2019-20. The result indicated that 
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the NTFP collection showed a declining trend of -11.6 per cent annually over the years in 
Kerala. On the contrary, the revenue from NTFP sales showed an increasing trend of 4.55 
per cent annually during the same period. This reflected increasing prices of NTFPs over 
the years from 2000-01 to 2019-20.
Multiple linear regression and factor analysis were employed to identify the 
factors influencing income from NTFP collection. It was revealed that annual income 
from agriculture, man days per year spent for agricultural activity and man days per year 
spent for other income earning activities were the factors found to be significantly
influencing income from NTFP collection. The results from factor analysis revealed that 
factor 1, factor 2 and factor 3 were the important factors affecting NTFP collection as 
these three factors could explain about nearly 90 per cent of variance of the data.
Marketing of NTFPs was done in Wayanad district mainly through four channels. 
Out of 21 NTFPs collected from Wayanad, 17 NTFPs were marketed through channel I, 
while rest of the NTFPs were marketed through channel II, III and channel IV. The 
analysis of price spread revealed that marketing cost and marketing margin were more in 
Channel-II. The KSFSDCL facilitated auction of the NTFP products and the major buyer 
was Ayurvedic Pharmaceutical Company, Arya Vaidya Sala, Kottakkal.
It could be concluded from the study that marketing of honey was vibrant through 
Vana Samrakshana Samithi (VSS) in Kalpetta range only. So revitalizing the functioning 
of VSS in Meppady and Chedalath ranges would enhance marketing of honey which is 
the major facilitator of revenue through NTFPs in Kerala. Introduction of incentives to 
collectors would help them in increasing the NTFP collection, thereby increasing income 
of households. It was found from the study area that selling of NTFPs is vested with 
Government agencies only. So inclusion of private parties would enhance the competition 
in marketing of NTFPs. It was also observed that NTFP collectors were trained only for 
collection and primary level processing of NTFPs. So capacity building training 
programs can be given for the value addition of NTFPs to reduce the damages and to 
improve the quality of these products
ER  -