Forest and livelihood of tribal people: a case study on Kandhamal district in Odisha

Forest plays a major role in the economic growth and ecological stability of a country. It conserves soil and prevents flood and draught. Forest performs a manifold function as it is used for food, medical product, fuel, fodder, and materials for tools, ornaments, handicrafts, etc. The lives and livelihoods of people living in and around forests are critically and intricately linked to forests. Therefore, this study makes an attempt to analyse the forest and livelihood of tribal people in Kandhamal District of Odisha. This study is purely based on primary survey. The study finds that there are large numbers of illiterate people live in the study villages and those are educated, they are simply primary or U.P passed. The landholdings by the people in the study villages are very small. This study also finds that more people are engaged in primary occupation i.e. agriculture sector. In secondary occupation, large numbers of people are engaged in the collection of forest products. In the study area, almost all the villagers collect food products for their family use and also for sale. Majority of the people in the study are directly depends on forest products for their livelihood, in recent years the decrease in forest area lead to change in their livelihood. Tribes in the study area collects forest products but there is no market facility to sell their products and even they are not getting good price for their product.