Joint forest management for conservation and auxiliary income in Himachal Pradesh

The study was conducted to oberve the effect of Joint Forest Management activities on socio-economic status and income generation. A total of 206 respondents from 18 Joint Forest Management Committees (JFMCs) of the selected 6 Forest Development Agencies (FDAs) using multistage random sampling technique were selected. The households were extracting 14.31 quintals of fuelwood, 16.65 quintals of fodder/grasses about 1.80 quintals of leaf litter/animal bedding and 0.70 quintals of humus per annum from the forests. There were some farmers who also earned about 242.72 rupees per annum on an average from the sale of Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) like Morchella (guchhi)/ wild vegetables. The level of inequality for the non-farm income was found to be highest (0.45), followed by inequality in farm income (0.39) and inequality in forest income (0.23). The overall inequality index value was found to be 0.31 for the total level of income. The poor and underprivileged households were benefitting the most from community based forest management under JFM than well-off households, as they are more dependent upon forest to meet their livelihood requirements. The reduction in fund allocation of JFMCs is a threat to the conservation efforts of the government and local people who are losing employment opportunities.