The economic contribution of forest resources to the tribal communities in Odisha: A study of two villages in Rayagada distric

The basic problem of rural area is problem of underemployment rather than unemployment and it is high incidence of unemployment and underemployment among the economically weaker tribal sections of the society in the country. The tribal people living in forest area depend on forests resources for various products such as fuel wood, construction materials, medicine, food etc. There are three ways in which forest provides livelihoods for the tribal communities living in the forest fringe villages. They are direct employment, self-employment and secondary employment. The state of Odisha has a rich and abundance source of forest produce that has contributed and shaped the lives of the poor tribal people across the state. Both men and women from different tribes in rural Odisha are mostly engaged for collection and marketing of forest products that provides a great source of income to them. The broad objectives of the paper is study (i) the important role played by the forest produce in providing better economic status to the tribal people in Odisha (ii) to look into the economic and employment aspect of the forest produce particularly in the two villages of Rayagada District (iii) some strategy and policies to overcome the issues and challenges of overexploitation of forest produce for the better livelihood impact on the tribal people in the two villages of the district. The present study documents economic contributions of forest resources to the tribal communities of Kashipur block in Rayagada district of Odisha state. The study is based on personal interviews, interview schedule, and personal observations in the two sample villages using multi-stage random sampling technique.