Non-Timber Forest Products of India

Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) can be defined as all goods derived from forest and their biomass for commercial and industrial use, which can be substainably extracted from a forest ecosystem in quantities and in such ways, that it does not downgrade the plant communities, basic reproductive function. For most recorded history, people have valued forests not only for wood, but for other products also. Modern science and government overlooked the importance of these Non-Wood Forest wealth for so long. The answer is three fold. First most of these products are used mainly in rural areas and go unrecorded. Government includes these products in agriculture, horticulture and statistics do not recognise as originating from the forest. Finally, modern forestry have favoured timber as large scale enterprises and has generally regarded Non-Wood products as incidental. Also the technical information published on NTFP were scattered and scanty and not well defined. We have compiled all these published/scattered informations in one volume and rediscovered the great importance of NTFPs ranging from food, fruit, fibers, gums, dye stuffs, flavours, trannifs and medicines for meeting people's needs. It is therefore necessary to consider how to use or sale of these NTFP in the broader framework by transferring the forests in to a productive system designed to meet their particular needs. We have categorized all these products under different chapters. With these challenges ahead on demand for better of NTFPs, we have made detailed studies of these resources. This is the only book of its kind to go in depth. This book is especially suitable for foresters, rangers, policy makers, researchers, and agricultural students and scientists as reference guide book.