Trees for Life:Creating Sustainable Livelihood in Bundelkhand Region of Central India

Trees have been a part of life for centuries in India for sustainable livelihood security. Under the difficult climatic situations, farmers are forced to adopt tree-based systems to secure their income and livelihood. Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) harvesting, collection and processing are creating several employment opportunities in the drought-prone Bundelkhand region of India. This article aims to document the livelihood dependency on trees of farmers, tribals and landless labourers for income generation. Surveys and interviews in Bundelkhand region provided an overview of the dependency of different rural communities on NTFPs such as gum, dona pattal, lac from Butea; brooms, jaggery and baskets from Phoenix; flowers and seeds from mahua; bidi leaves from tendu and sticks from bamboo for sustaining their livelihood. To promote NTFPs-based livelihood enterprises, more emphasis should be given for sustainable harvest, value-addition and marketing.