Project Detail

A participatory Approach to demonstration of Garcinia gummigutta and fruit processing.?

Prakruti is a non-governmental organization formed in 1990 after the Chipko appiko movement in the Western Ghats of South India. It works in the field of evolving an ecologically sound and sustainable development strategy in the tropical forest regions. The goal of the project is in-situ conservation of Garcinia gummigutta through identification of plus tress, vegetative propagation and conservation in community land along with making the process a source of income. The specific objectives of the project are:
? To reduce the pressure on forests for fuel woods
? To encourage farmers to identify suitable plants for domestication of Garcinia gummigutta
? To develop an alternate processing method, easy for the villagers to adopt, for the fruit rind
? To educate and encourage farmers to adopt community processing of the fruit

The above objectives will be achieved through active involvement of farmers, local community and wide spread awareness generation. The projected outputs of the project are:
? There will be less pressure on the forests as a source of firewood
? An alternate method of processing Garcinia gummigatta that is environment friendly and more cost effective would be developed
? Save about 25 kg of firewood for per kilogram of Garcinia processed.

Project Snapshot

Grantee:

Prakruti

Country:

India

Area Of Work:

Biodiversity

Operational Phase:

Phase 3

Grant Amount:

US$ 25,842.00

Co-Financing Cash:

US$ 7,000.00

Co-Financing in-Kind:

US$ 4,000.00

Project Number:

SGP/GEF/IND/OP3/1/05/KAR10

Start Date:

10/2005

End Date:

3/2008

Status:

Satisfactorily Completed

Photo Gallery

The Fruit Processing is done by a Self help group women

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Project Characteristics and Results

Project sustainability

A Management Committee including representatives from Village Forest Committee [VFC], scientists from College of Forestry and Centre for Ecological Science, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, other NGOs, women Self Help Group, garcinia fruit harvesters and local community leaders will be formed to influence the forest department policies, sustain and manage the resources established under the project.

Capacity - Building Component

Garcinia gummigutta is an important NTFP of the Western Ghats, which has recently become industrially important. Processing of the fruit using firewood is ecologically expensive owing to the firewood consumption at the semi-processing stage. The project will build the capacity of the communities in sustainable collection of the fruit and evolving an alternate in processing the fruit to reduce the consumption of firewood.

Replication of project activities

Since, Garcinia Gummigutta is a major NTFP harvested all over the western ghats and processed in the similar manner all over the area, the improvement in the process has a scope of replication all over the Western Ghats. The organization will be in close contact with the Forest Department for forging partnerships for replication of the pilot initiative.

Notable Community Participation

The project has been developed based on the requirements of the local community and the environment. The project will be implemented involving the Village Forest Committee [VFC], local communities, women Self Help Groups, Forest Department and Forest Development Agencies. Demonstration at the community level would take place at 5 villages. A conglomeration of five village Forest Communities (VFC) would be considered.

Emphasis on Sustainable Livelihoods

The project is in-situ conservation of Garcinia gummigutta through identification of plus tress, vegetative propagation and conservation in community land. The number of households considered would be around 40-50. Several families out of these are agricultural laborers, whose family income would be substantiated through involvement in the process of collections of the fruit. The farmers will be trained to extract juice from the fruit instead of drying it, in order to fetch better prices.

Significant Participation of Indigenous Peoples

Two out of the five villages are predominantly tribals from the Siddies tribes, who are the primary collectors of the fruit.

Gender Focus

Women will be the main targets of the capacity building process for collection of the fruits. The women will be mobilized into Self Help Groups and will be linked to formal credit linkages. The reduction in the use of fuelwood will reduce the drudgery of women in collection of wood from the forests.

Project Results

The training in sustainable harvest and nursery raising of the species will result in conservation of superior genotypes of Garcinia gummigutta on Village Forest Committee [VFC] area. Dryers have been installed in two villages and the efficiency in saving firewood is being documented. The process of formation of management committees is going on at present. Nurseries of Garcinia gummigutta is being established in the villages and technical skills of the women SHG members are being developed in nursery techniques and vegetative propagation. The early observations of the drying units show that there is a marked reduction in the use of firewoods and it is envisaged that it will reduce the pressure on the natural forest for fuel wood.

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