Integrated Land Development in Forest Fringe Villages: the Khunti Model

Integrated land development model adopted in 10 forest fringe villages in tribal dominated areas of Jharkhand under a UNDP sponsored project has achieved remarkable success in sustainable livelihood promotion and conservation of natural resources, checking migration of rural mass to outside state for employment and disassociating young people from Maoist and naxal activities. The rural folk revived the traditional practice of lac cultivation with scientific and technical support of the Institute to reap substantial benefits in tune of 70,000-90,000 per family annually. Apart from growing lac on its well known host trees such as palash, kusum and ber, initiative has been taken on large scale lac cultivation on new host plant Flemingia semialta in farmers' fields. The intervention reduces the gestation period to 1 year and facilitates intensive management for enhanced crop yield.