Objectives: The present study based on a field survey in Bankura district, West Bengal tries to find out that to what extent, the member households under the JFM program depend on the concerned forests for their subsistence and to what extent the program has benefited them in terms of forest outcomes.
Methods: The study mainly involves descriptive analysis based on a field survey in the district of Bankura, West Bengal across four Forest Protection Committees (FPCs) using multi-stage stratified sampling technique. The survey covers a total of 155 households. The data collected throughout the survey have been put into tabular form after doing some basic calculations.
Findings: The study finds that after the implementation of the program, the households, especially those from Female FPC village and those of the landless have been benefited a lot in accessing free bio-mass fuel from the concerned forest areas. Apart from head loading, the households earn a certain sum of money from usufructs share and forestry works. However, on average, a major portion of forest income for all the households (irrespective of village category or land holding status) comes from biomass fuel (along with few NTFPs). It seems that, JFM’s role in terms of tangible economic outcomes is not sufficient, as a major portion of the outcomes is limited in bio-mass fuel. It could hamper the very motive behind sustainable forest management in the coming years, since it is clearly evident that, forest protection is highly linked to people’s willingness and participation, which in turn depends on forest outcomes. In this regard the study suggests yielding of some quick growing NTFPs, like bamboos, cashew nuts along with honey and some medicinal plants that can give the people an additional option for generating extra income to some extent. Besides, increasing forestry working days can also give the people some extra money.
Applications/Improvements: JFM has provided the member households with little legitimate access to forest outcomes. However, since forest protection is highly linked to forest outcomes, the concerned forest departments should adopt some initiatives to make them financially availed.