Sustainable Livelihoods: Collection and Marketing of NTFP by Scheduled Tribes With Special Reference to North Coastal Andhra Pradesh

The North Coastal region of the Andhra Pradesh state in southern India has a large size of forest cover inhabited by different tribal communities. A number of NTFP are produced in this region which form a major source of livelihood for the native tribals. Present field survey based exploratory study attempts to assess the qualitative and quantitative status of NTFP of the region and also examines the prevalent practices of its collection and marketing by the tribal people. The study also examined the trends in growth, instability and the cyclic variations of the collection of NTFP and based its findings, it suggests policy measures for sustainable production/collection of NTFP and its marketing, in order to improve the economic condition of the NTFP gatherers.