Forest management policies in India have conventionally favoured the production of timber. Until recently, such policies failed to take proper account of the developmental and livelihood needs of forest-dependent communities and failed to involve local women and men as forest managers. In rural eastern India many households (and many tribal/adivasi households) depend upon the production, collection and marketing of non-timber products to supplement the meagre incomes they gain from rain-fed paddy production. Land alienation and rapid degradation of local forests have forced such households, or individual family members, to migrate in order to survive (or, more positively, to turn to commercial vegetable production where the opportunity arises). Joint Forest Management (JFM) systems afford an opportunity to increase stakeholder participation in local forest management, but here too an unconsidered timber emphasis is often apparent. The gestation periods associated with timber or pole production can be lengthy and may discourage sustained community involvement in JFM. New forest management systems also continue to be gender-blind in many cases. In the wake of a largely male out-migration, the particular needs of female-headed households need to be taken into account when formulating development policies.

Forest management strategies highlighting the value of NTFPs can redress the imbalance noted above and can be sustainable in the long run.

Regenerative ability and sustainable production capacity of forests on sloping lands established and produce identified; the project will focus on the increased production, consumption and trading of NTFPs as a development strategy that will improve the livelihoods of forest-dependent populations in eastern India, and women especially.

• Inventory of current and potential NTFP availability, use and extraction (by community, gender) in two study areas.
• NTFP Management Manual" designed for moist deciduous forests under local/joint forest management in Bihar and Orissa.
• Simple financial appraisal model for selected NTFPs.
• Development strategies for production and marketing of NTFPs.