NTFP Final Report 15 June 2013

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Market Survey and Analysis of five Non- Timber Forest Product (NTFP) categories in

Nainamadhu forest area in Vavuniya North DSD of Vavuniya

District

Acknowledgements

My first thank is addressed to Sewa Lanka Foundation, which offered the opportunity to conduct

this study. Further thanks belongs to the participants of the field survey in all the 8 GNDs and to the

different market actors in different areas in Vavuniya and adjoining District for their helpful and

informative collaboration.

This was enabled by the staff and Volunteers of Sewa Lanka at district and provincial level, who

actively supported the study. Special thank belongs to Ms. Babara for giving constructive feedbacks

and encouraging advices Ms. Annet, Director for Special Projects, Sewa Lanka, Vavuniya District and

Mr. Ajantha Palihawardana, Program Manager , Forestry., who were created favorable conditions to

contact all required private and state stakeholders for relevant study issues.

Finally my thanks to the study team members ,

Mr.Nadarajah Ravikumar

Mr.Kandiah Suthan

Mr.Tharmaratnam Parthipan

Mr.Vimal

Sangarapillai Naguleswaran

Research Lead

VWILL Pvt Ltd.

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Contents Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 3

I. Nainamadu Forest Reserve (NFR) ............................................................................................... 3

II. Executive summary ..................................................................................................................... 3

1. Background of the study area .......................................................................................................... 5

1.0 Socio Economic Features .............................................................................................................. 5

1.1 Demography .................................................................................................................................. 5

1.2 Land holding size of the sample families ...................................................................................... 6

2. Survey Methodology ....................................................................................................................... 7

2.0 House hold income from various sources ......................................................................................... 8

3. NTFPs Activities ........................................................................................................................... 10

3.0 Discussions and results from community participation .............................................................. 12

3.1 Selection Criteria used: ............................................................................................................... 13

3.2 NTFPS Identified .......................................................................................................................... 13

4. Non Timber Forest Products Analysis .......................................................................................... 14

4.0 Wild Bee Honey ........................................................................................................................... 14

4.1 Tamarind ..................................................................................................................................... 25

4.2 Wild and Domestic Fruits of NFR .......................................................................................... 30

4.3 Medicinal plant products ............................................................................................................ 35

4.4 Inland Fishing .............................................................................................................................. 39

4.5 Eco tourism development in the NFR area ................................................................................. 48

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Introduction

I. Nainamadu Forest Reserve (NFR)

Nainamadu Forest Reserve (NFR) is considered the gateway to the forest cover in the northern area of

Sri Lanka. The Forestry Project funded by the German Government and implemented partnering

Wealthunger Hilfe; Sewa Lanka, aims to bring prominence to the Nainamadu Forest that has

neglected during years of conflict. The Project will empower the community living around the forest,

to engage in Joint Forest Management (JFM), and will be facilitated to produce Non Timber Forest

Productions (NTFPs) such as collection of Wild bee honey and such other produces. The Project is the

first model in the Joint Forest Management in the North and envisions that it will be expanded.

Many hundreds of millions of people across the developing world trade in a diverse range of NTFPs

everyday and which are marketed primarily in local and regional markets (Scherer et al. 2004).

Building materials, fuel wood, charcoal, indigenous foodstuffs, medicines, craft items (from wood,

grass, reeds, and vines), farm and household implements, furniture, and other more specialized

products such as resins, honey, oils and fruit beverages are examples of just some of the products that

may be found for sale in the vast majority of rural markets and in nearby towns and cities. Many of

these markets are growing through both the entry of new products and growth in existing trade.

In Sri Lanka there is a long tradition of forest product use by communities living in close proximity to

forests, either as an economic mainstay or as a supplementary source of household income.

Exploitation of wild species, the enrichment of natural forests with economically important species,

and the adoption of complex agro forestry systems are all examples of a close relationship between

people and forests. As in other Asia regions Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Cambodia, India and

Nepal, the use of NTFPs has attracted attention in Sri Lanka in recent years because of their

importance in supporting family income and the potential for harvesting NTFPs sustainably while

maintaining forest biodiversity. Several studies documenting the extent and types of usage have been

carried out, particularly in the Sri Lankan humid forests of Knuckles, Adam's Peak Wilderness, and

Sinharaja rain forest, Ritigala (McDermott et al., 1990; Gunatilake et al., 1993; Gunatilleke et al.,

1993; Gunatilake, 1994; Wickramasinghe, 1995). There have been studies to explore the small-scale

handicraft industry based on NTFPs (de Zoysa and Vivekanandan, 1991).

Here the Sewa Lanka Foundations commendable efforts to promote the sustainable harvest and

commercialization of NTFPs of NFR are to be recorded. To catalyze all the actors, Stake holders, the

grass root level Government officials of DOF, GNs, Volunteers, enthusiast in Bio Diversity

conservation were organized to participate in Knowledge Exchange missions to the successful project

locations with the similar Goals and objectives of “Nilgiri Bio sphere of South India and to the

Southern part of Sri Lanka, to see first-hand how they are implementing the community forestry

programs and Joint forest management , in their forest areas —and the results of their work, to

leverage the learning and experience they have gained .

An analysis of these studies suggests that basic propositions emerge to explain the main relationship

between NTFPs and the communities that use them of :

NTFPs are still a relevant part of the economy of communities living on the periphery of the forest.

The collection of NTFPs allows in most cases for the maintenance of the forest cover and most of its species.

II. Executive summary The aim of this report is to show the identification and promotion of sustainable used NTFPs found in

the Nainamadu Forest Reserve (NFR) with a promising commercial value contributes to livelihood

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improvement of poorer households. Consequently, the objectives focus on 1) identifying

economically valuable and sustainable used NTFPs at the research site, 2) analyzing the potential for

the commercialization of minimum 3short-listed NTFPs of studied villages, 3) conducting a market

chain analysis of these selected NTFPs, 4) evaluating economic and natural conditions for locally

added value of these NTFPs, and 5) making suggestions for an improvement of the legal and

economic regulations for sustainable resource management and NTFP commercialization for poorer

households in particular.

As survey methodologies, the approaches of participatory rural appraisal (PRA) and rapid market

appraisal (RMA) as well as Focus Group Discussions (FGD) and semi structured interviews (SSI) are

applied to collect information at the study site and at the investigated market places. As the

preliminary step the community meetings and Focus Group discussions were organized in all the

GNDs and total of 108 participants were oriented with the objectives of the study, made them to come

out with their opinions and views on NTFPs interventions.

Sampling: Since too little organized information of NTFPs exist on the chain actors, growers,

collectors was known of the population beforehand , in order to allow for random sampling, use had

to be made of non probabilistic sampling methods. In this case a quota sampling method was used in

combination with the snow ball method. In order to meet the set targets of quota samples of each

GNDs the number of grower, collector. After having identified grower collector who fitted the criteria

for inclusion the grower was asked for information concerning other growers, collectors. An effort

was made as ecowalk to target the zones where fruit tree were likely to found together with HHs

intervened with fruits collection and selling. With all these efforts a total sample of 57 HHs were

interviewed with administration of a structured questionnaire. House hold visits enabled to observe

the livelihoods activities involved, visit the farm fields, home yards, to assess the living condition of

HHs, to meet the women members discuss about their willingness, interests, power relationships,

views and opinions on their future plans to involve in NTFPs activities.

Study Area

The study locations are 8 GNDs the surrounding villages of the Nainamadu Forest Reserve, in the

northern Division of Vavuniya District. This study area is a priority area of the pilot project, “Program

for Sustainable Forest in Northern Sri Lanka”, implemented by Sewa lanka Foundation with the

Finance support of The Government of Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and

Development and Welthunger Hife, contribute to the goal of the convention on Bio-Diversity to using

the forest resources of NFR in ways that are socially, Economically and Ecologically sustainable.

The overwhelming majority of the people live in the study areas are they engage in agricultural related

activities such as paddy, vegetable, fruits and dry grain cultivation, and cottage industries as main

sources of livelihoods. The percentage of population who engaged in industries such as working in,

rice mills, bakeries, clay brick molding , allied pottery are very low compared to the huge agricultural

sector. The limited service sector jobs, mostly in the public sector, are mainly dominated by the

migrant people from other districts with higher education levels.

Small holding cultivation is the main source of income for many households in which not only men

and women but also children get involved in farming and related activities. It is estimated that

agriculture cultivation of paddy is the main source of employment for about 67 per cent of the

employed in the district. There are extremely limited opportunities for non farm income generation

activities in the district.

Wherever primary occupation of men is agriculture, primary occupation of women is cited as

housewife, by the respondents themselves. In such cases, showing the secondary occupation of

women along with the primary occupation of men gives the complete household income pattern.

Agriculture, the pulsing heart of the district, is curtailed by infinite number of natural and manmade

restrictions and barriers. Above all unavailability of sufficient water imposes the greater challenge for

the agricultural development in the district.

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1. Background of the study area

1.0 Socio Economic Features Northern part of Vavuniya District, Nedunkerny, the surrounding areas of Nainamadu Forest Reserve

was one of the critical area severely affected under the protracted Regional war and conflict situation,

the three decade prolonged war had played havoc and escalated in the later part of the year 2008 –

2009 causing productive asset lost, land abandonment, damage of economic infrastructure and had

created a situation for a long rehabilitation and restoration period in the path of development. The

Government with the support of various humanitarian and development agencies implemented

comprehensive efforts to bring back the region to the normal level and go beyond that level towards

development in par with other parts of the Sri Lanka. As such much priority was given to the

agricultural sector many projects have been implemented in the agriculture sector.

Consequently the government took many efforts to enable the people to return their original places

and to resettle. Most of the farmers were gradually resettled in their original places. In the inception of

return and resettlement in the year of 2009 the farmers returned were not able to recommence their

farming activities due to the unavailability of the required seeds and inputs, farming machineries tools

and equipments and the necessary capitals.

Government mobilized Various Agencies with the mandate for the development of agriculture and

organized to supply seed paddy to the farmers of Northern Province in 2009, 41367 bushels for 11944

resettled farm families. In 2010, 335,907 bushels to 44090 resettled farmers of Northern Province. In

2011, 64180 bushels of seed paddy to 10697 resettled farmers. In addition the government provided

farm machineries and the financial assistance to these families for preparing their lands.

With all these Government efforts to bring the abandoned lands under cultivation , production of

paddy, other field crops, vegetables and fruits has been drastically increased during the last 3 years .

However the crop production had suffered heavy loss in maha season of 2011/12 due to unexpected

heavy rain in the time of reaping their harvest.

1.1 Demography The study area comprising 8GNDivisions of 44 villages with total families of 1098 total family

members are 3642, of gender aggregates 1761 males of 41% and 1881 females of 51%. In the age

group composition young adult age group 19 – 37 comprise 24.87% this is a very versatile group

economically active, willing to become as processors, home stead bee keepers to be the target for the

NTFPs enterprise development . The 51% is higher proportion of female many of them are with

secondary level educational backgrounds for the capacity building to be as lead persons to promote

the NTFPs entrepreneurships.

Table 1: Demographic profile

No. G.N Division

G.N.

Division

Number

No. of

Villages

No. of

Families

Total

Population Male Female

1 Unchalkaddy 221 5 18 54 22 32

2 Vedivaithakal 221A 3 13 30 16 14

3 Maruthodai 221B 4 55 167 76 91

4 Olumadu 222B 7 271 924 446 478

5 Kulavisuddan 222D 11 192 620 309 311

6 Paranthan 223 4 237 818 389 429

7 Anantharpuliyankulam 223A 4 81 272 128 144

8 Nainamadu 223C 6 231 757 375 382

Total 44 1,098 3,642 1,761 1,881

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1.2 Land holding size of the sample families Land ownership within the agrarian economy of the study area provides a major source of income,

which is an important natural asset that farmers have. The 3 major types of agricultural lands owned

by the HHs in the study area are paddy lands, and the high dry lands where vegetables and other field

crops can be grown and

the slash and burn lands,

where clearing small

patch of forest lands and

burning the cleared

jungle plants to deposit

the ash to the land get

fertile and growing rain

fed crops like millets and

vegetables for one

seasons harvest.

Tables show the paddy

land and the dry high

land distribution of

the sample HHs of the

study areas. It shows

the average land

holdings of Very rich,

rich, medium , poor

,very poor farmers

and landless

21%3%

18%32%

26%

Chart 2: Number of Acres paddy land holding by sample HHs

Landless 0.5 - 01 Acre 1 - 2 Acres

2 - 5 Acres 5 - 10 Acres

5%

40%

39%

16%

Chart 3: Size of High land holding by sample households

0.5 -1 Acre 1-2 Acre 2-5 Acre 5-10 Acre

Unchalkaddy

Vedivaithakallu

Maruthodai

OlumaduKulavisud

danParantha

n

Anantharpuliyanku

lam

Nainamadu

All ages 54 30 167 924 620 818 272 757

0 - 5 Years 10 3 16 173 71 111 29 121

6 - 12 Years 6 4 32 124 47 141 32 121

13 - 18 Years 5 3 19 112 79 139 32 103

19 -37 Years 14 6 39 262 156 159 84 186

38 - 60 Years 10 8 42 198 218 116 69 152

Over 60 9 6 19 55 49 152 26 74

0100200300400500600700800900

1000

Chart 1: Population based on Age Group as at 31 Dec 2011

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respectively >10 Acres, 5-10 Acres, 2-5 Acres, 1-2 Acres and 0.5 – 1 Acre. There is high

percentage 21 % of families without the land for cultivation of paddy; most of those families

are displaced from the southern Sri Lanka due to the ethnic conflict of 1977. The larger extent

of paddy irrigated land and the high land owned by the rich families twice as large as that of medium

and nine times larger than that of poor farmers. Larger size of land owned by the rich farmers’ means

that they have higher potential to cultivate paddy and vegetable crops in higher acreage land. The

larger size dry high land owners was fortunate enough to had the opportunity to get a higher value

package of micro irrigation system under repayable loan system of Aus Aid, the value of the package

nearly 500,000, In the later stage Aus Aid was good enough to withdraw the loan system and the

beneficiaries were fortunate enough to have the package as grant.

2. Survey Methodology

As survey methodologies, the approaches of participatory rural appraisal (PRA) and rapid market

appraisal (RMA) as well as Focus Group Discussions (FGD) and semi structured interviews (SSI) are

applied to collect information at the study site and at the investigated market places. As the

preliminary step the community meetings and Focus Group discussions were organized in all the

GNDs and total of 108 participants were oriented with the objectives of the study, made them to come

out with their opinions and views on NTFPs interventions.

Sampling: Since too little organized information of NTFPs exist on the chain actors, growers,

collectors was known of the population beforehand , in order to allow for random sampling, use had

to be made of non probabilistic sampling methods. In this case a quota sampling method was used in

combination with the snow ball method. In order to meet the set targets of quota samples of each

GNDs the number of grower, collector. After having identified grower collector who fitted the criteria

for inclusion the grower was asked for information concerning other growers, collectors. An effort

was made as ecowalk to target the zones where fruit tree were likely to found together with HHs

intervened with fruits collection and selling. With all these efforts a total sample of 57 HHs were

interviewed with administration of a structured questionnaire. House hold visits enabled to observe

the livelihoods activities involved, visit the farm fields, home yards, to assess the living condition of

HHs, to meet the women members discuss about their willingness, interests, power relationships,

views and opinions on their future plans to involve in NTFPs activities.

Table 2: Sample population shared valid responses

Chain position of respondents : # of cases

No Location Growers/

Collectors

Processors Inter-me

diaries

Retailer/

Wholesalers

BDS

Providers

01 Nainamadu 10 0 01 02 0

02 Kulavisuddan 11 0 03 02 0

03 Olumadu 07 0 01 03 0

04 Anantharpuliyankulam 17 0 0 02 0

05 Paranthan 04 0 01 01 0

06 Maruthodai 05 0 02 01 0

08 Vedivaithakal 03 0 0 0 0

09 Vavuniya Urban 00 01 05 10 04

10 Jaffna 00 02 03 03 02

11 Dambulla 02

12 Colombo 02 01

Total 57 03 16 28 07

Grand Total 111

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Table 3: GNDs wise respondents

No GND Bee honey Fruits Fish Oil seeds

01 Kulavisuddan 4 4 3 1

02 Nainamadu 5 4 0 0

03 Olumadu 2 4 0 1

04 Paranthan 4 1 0 0

05 Unchalkaddy 2 1 0 0

06 Ananthapuliyankulam 7 10 0 0

07 Vedivaithakal 0 0 0 0

08 Maruthodai 3 2 0 0

09 Sub total 27 26 3 1

10 Total 57

2.0 House hold income from various sources

Agriculture

The overwhelming majority of the people live in the Nedunkerny Division are they engage in

agricultural related activities such as paddy, vegetable, fruits and dry grain cultivation. The agriculture

sector is the corner stone of the area’s economy; Farming is ubiquitous with more than 70% of the

population depending on agriculture.

The sample HHs (n=57)

income from the various

agriculture activities

cultivation of paddy, pulses,

other food grains, vegetables

are given in the chart. 35% of

the family’s annual income in

the range of 0.00 – 50000.00,

this low annual income

earning group will be of low

size land holders deprived of

irrigation water for the yala

paddy cultivation underground

water resource for the cultivation of vegetables in the dry high lands, relying on rain fed agricultural

activities. It’s misery to note that

many of the HHs in this similar

poverty traps not even thing to

involve in any of the NTFPs

activities as a safety net to get

freed out the poverty trap. Many

of the wealth group with stable

income is involved in extraction

of honey as a multifaceted

income earning approach. The

higher income earning group of

0 - 50,00035%

50,000-100,000

30%

100,000-150,000

13%

> 150,000.0022%

Chart 4: Households income from Agriculture of the sample families

0

5

0 - 50,000 50,000 -100,000

100,000 -150,000

> 150,000

Chart 5: Households income from Domestic Fruits - sample HHs

Income Range

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22% is of higher size land holders of both paddy and dry high lands engaged in both low land

seasonal paddy cultivation and high land vegetable cultivation.

Its common traditional practice for many generation growing perennial trees in the homestead .The

average size of the home garden were reported as 0.5 acre to 1.5 acres. Neem (Azardirachta indica) is

grown as dominant timber species in naturally with its adaptation ability to harsh conditions. Exotic

species namely as Teak (Tectona Grandis ) is grown by people in every home garden because of its

economic value. People prefer more on fruit tree species such as coconut (cocus nucifera), Mango

(Mangifera indica) and orange (citrus sinensis) than vegetables and timber species.

Cultivation of Fruits

An average annual income is earned from the perennial plants Rs 3000 per coconut trees and from

other fruit trees jak, mangoes; average annual

income is not less than 3000 to 5000. From

tamarind and wood apple is average of Rs

2000. In the data the income from the fruits

cultivated papaya for export market also

included. The sales value greater than

150000.00 denotes the income earned from the

export market gardening of papaya.

The development of the value chain of export market system in the study area is notable.

The papaya fruit cultivation is with the secured market under the buyback agreement of out grower

system with the Colombo based exporters C.D. Marketing System. Many of the respondents engaged

in citrus cultivation expressed their critical situation of marketing their fruit yields without harvesting

got rottened under the tree.

Sri Lankas per capita consumption of fruits and

vegetables are far below the recommended daily

intake. 200 grams of vegetables is the recommended

level, but the consumption level remains to 94 gms

per day. According to the Medical Research

Institutes (MRI) per capita consumption of fruits

should be 30 – 40 gms (edible portion) which is

equivalent to 25 – 40 kg of fresh fruit per year per

head. To achieve this moderate target, the production

of fruits to be increased to 995,712 tons assuming

20% waste. With the current trend of the economic

growth and the increase of income level of the people, there will be a parallel increasing in the

Picture 2: Papaya orchard with yields ready

for export packaging, Photo by: Vimal

Citrus tree blooming with yields in

Anantharpuliyankulam. Photo by: Vimal

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demand for the vegetables and fruits in the local market and the production to be increased to balance

the increasing demand. The opening up of the North and East, which are mainly agriculture producing

areas increases the potential to grow fruits and vegetables. (Federation of Sri Lanka Chambers of

commerce)

3. NTFPs Activities

For this study the NTFP is considered as: Non-Timber Forest Products: refers to a vast array of

goods and services of biological origin derived from the forest, other wooded land and trees outside

forests, including small wood and fuel wood.

In recent decades, NTFP have been viewed as a means of conserving, managing and

optimizing tropical forest ecosystems while providing economic benefits to local residents

(FAO, 2002; Dlamini, 2007)

The Study results show, that the high number of families and family members nearly 600, though

their main livelihoods activity is cultivation of paddy, as a diversified income source are associated in

extraction of honey, the volume of each family extraction of wild bee honey ranges from 100 to 300

bottles in the annual season, gross revenue realized as income ranges from Rs 30,000.00 to

Lower Plants

Woody

FOREST PRODUCTS

Non-timber

products esProducts

Fuel wood

Timber Products

Non – Wood

Poles Wood – Derived (Sponge, Charcoal, etc)

Flora Geological E.g. Clay, Chalk & Sand Fauna, Inland Fish, meat (Bush meat, Trophy, Skin, etc)

From

Mammals

Reptiles

Birds

Insects

Molluscs

Fishes

Amphibians

Higher Plants Mushrooms (fungi)

Tree parts

Herbs & Grasses Shrubs

Similar to tree parts

Stems & Barks

Latex, Gum, Resin, Fiber, Wine, Dye, Medicine

Leaves

Vegetables, Wrappers, Fibers, Forage, Medicine

Flowers & Fruits

Food, Oil, Spices, Condiment, Fodder, Fiber (e.g Kapok), Honey,

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100,000.00. The income from the honey contributes to a higher share 19%, of the total income of the

sample HHs, Bee honey extraction is well integrated into the house hold cash income economy. The

higher contribution of steady income/profit margin from the extraction of wild bee honey to the HHs

of the community is due the involvement of high number of villagers in the wild bee honey collection

during the annual season. This fetches a higher price rate compare to the opportunity of labour in

other diversified livelihoods opportunities. However, the number of days could be involved in the bee

honey extraction is limited to 60 – 70 days as seasonal, thus, income level from combination of

NTFPs, other small holder agriculture activities generate more sustainable income for food and

livelihoods security.

Nearly 26 families of the respondents (n=57) are involved in other NTFPs collections such as wild

fruits contribute around 2% of the total income of the sample HHs. 3 households (Agriculture asset

poor) respondents are involved in the inland fishing as their key livelihoods activity, earn an average

monthly income of 15000.00/month, 2% of the total sample HHs income, here also the fishing in the

seasonal tanks is limited to maximum of five to six months in a year.

The findings of the market survey of selected NTFPs reveal that the different options for the

households to benefit from NTFPs. 2 women out of the 23 HHs involved in fruit collection are

engaged in the cottage level processing tamarind as a value addition activity , collection, de- husking,

de-seeding, pulping, solar drying to

remove the water to paste form and

selling in the local market seedless nett

edible tamarind paste. Earning Rs

16200.00 as monthly income. This

income is hard earned with very low

profit margin. Here the pricing factor is

determined by the local market demand;

the processer is selling the grade 1

product having the urban market value of

more than Rs 350 to 400 per kilo is sold

to Rs160 at Nedunkerny market. In the

locality, the purchase of tamarind is very

low; major portion of the individual HHs

consumption of tamarind is managed from

the collection of tamarind from their own

trees of homesteads or in the fallow lands.

Tamarind trees are widely distributed in

the areas with high yielding capacities

with promising viabilities to establish rural collection centers leads to the sustainable harvesting and

commercialization initiatives in the urban markets with good demand for Grade 1 tamarind product

market value and the utility rate is high in the urban market.

As conclusion, useful NTFPs to improve household livelihoods and mitigate poverty are 1) bee

honey, 2) tamarind, 3) inland fish, 4) wild and domestic fruits, 5) Medicinal Plants, its assumed

that within the high diversity of plant species of NFR will consist plants with potential medicinal

value (ICUN Bio diversity assessment of NFR 2013), if production, processing and trade of these

products are improved as well as consistent strategies for in particular poor households are developed.

It is crucial, however, that farmers become more familiar with the market mechanisms and the

sustainable resource management in order to benefit from NTFP activities in the long run. This

requires further improvements of the legal framework and its implementation as well as transparent

and purposeful application of state programmes to enhance the livelihoods of the poor and to conserve

natural resources.

40%

5%

2%

18%

35%

Chart 6: Annual income by Agriculture, NTFPs and other sources

Agriculture Inland Fish Wild Fruits

Bee Honey Domestic Fruits

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3.0 Discussions and results from community participation

The data were collected by using systematic random sampling method and PRA tools. Within the

many identified NTFPs in the area 5 NTFPs are ranked for their subsistence and commercial value.

Commercial Value means: Those are the Key characteristics of the NTFPs that will lead to

successful outcomes.

On the Basis of the responses of the sample populations and the various stakeholders participated

during the community meetings, stake holder discussions, HHs level structured interviews,

participants were brainstormed, and survey questions were asked to prioritize the NTFPs.

Participatory ranking exercises were organized by the Women Rural Development societies

(WRDSs). High number of participation of male and female from the economically active age group

of 19-37, much reflections were observed on their preferences were more inclined towards food

processing entrepreneurship development initiatives where more opportunities for the creation of jobs.

Honey bee earned high score and ranked as the first option in both exercises, in every aspects the wild

bee honey extraction become as first choice of the NTFPs of the community involvement and the

interaction, as become accustomed socially

economically as a traditional and steady income

earning activity of the house hold. Inland fish and

tamarind captured the next level, though their

contribution to the household is more as noncash

income with the cash income contribution

respectively 5% and 2% only. Palmyra has not

claimed much prominence; the tree population is

limited to only one village of Maruthodai there was

no beforehand information even with the Palmyra

Development board, there are 200 palmayra

dependent families the toddy tappers in the whole

division of Vavuniya North. According to the District Cordinator, Palmayra Delopment Board

Vavuniya District, in the Mullaitivu District, Oddusuddan Division, Sewa Lanka Foundation

implementing projects for the development of the sector. In Nedunkerny Division Sewa lanka

supported for the training on handicraft, for 13 beneficiaries of Marailluppai (this village is not

coming under our study area) in the end of the training, they were provided with tools to start up with

the income generation initiatives 8 out of the 13 trained are active in cottage level handicraft activities

and finding problem for the marketing their products. Their products are seen displayed in the

Vavuniya Katpakam sales centre. One of the respondents from Nainamadu Village a female of the

interviewed during the study showed income of Rs 3000 from the sale of boiled Palmyra tubers this is

the only response we came across in the activity related to Palmyra. In oil seeds and wood apple the

situation is similar responses limited to single individuals.

Villager’s participation in the NTFPs assessment

process. Picture by: Parthy

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3.1 Selection Criteria used:

1. Ease of production

• Availability in forest and/ or home garden at

the village

• Regeneration ability,

• Usefulness for the daily life,

• Seasonality, seasonal stresses, restrictions

2. Market Demand

• Is there strong market demand?

• Is demand based on season or festival? And

does that fall into the intended production

phase?

• Is the demand for high volume or a niche market?

• Are there many buyers or only few?

3. Financial cost of production

• Does the production require a high investment?

• Is credit required for this production?

4. Social

• Does the product have any special social significance? Is the product subject to any taboos?

5. Environment

• Does the production come with any hazards or potential harm to the environment?

6. Processing /Post harvest/Storage

• Is the product to be stored? Is the technology available for storage?

• How long can be the product be stored if the market is changed

• The technology and the know-how exist to produce?

3.2 NTFPS Identified Bee honey

Fresh water fish

Fruits

Wild: – Tamarind, Wood apple, Palu, Weerai, Murali, Uluvinthan,

Fruits of Homesteads and wooded Lots: – Palmayrah,Mango, lime, orange, papaya

Plants, Herbs and shrubs of Indigenous medicinal value

Villager’s participation in the NTFPs

assessment process. Picture by: Parthy

Page 14 of 50

3.3 Selection of economically important NTFPs

Table 4: Preference ranking

No

Species/Products

Mar

ket

dem

and

Pro

fit

Mar

gin

Av

aila

bil

ity

Tim

e sp

ent

Reg

ener

atio

n a

bil

ity

Co

ntr

ibuti

on

to i

nco

me

Em

plo

ym

en

t cr

eati

on

Use

for

dai

ly l

ife

Sco

re

Ran

k

1 Wild bee honey 5 5 4 2 2 5 3 3 29 1

2 Medicinal Plants 2 2 3 2 2 3 3 3 20 5

3 Tamarind 4 3 4 2 3 3 3 3 25 3

4 Inland Fish 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 5 27 2

5 Wood apple 2 2 2 1 1 2 1 1 12 9

6 Domestic fruits 3 3 3 3 2 3 3 4 24 4

7 Wild fruits 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 14 7

8 Palmayrah 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 1 13 8

9 Oil seeds 2 1 2 2 3 2 2 3 17 6

Table 5: Pair wise Ranking

Bee

Hon

ey

Med

icin

al

Pla

nts

Tam

ari

nd

Inla

nd

Fis

h

Wood

ap

ple

Dom

esti

c

fru

its

Wil

d f

ruit

s

Palm

yra

Oil

see

ds

Bee Honey Bee

Honey

Bee

Honey

Bee

Honey

Bee

Honey

Bee

Honey

Bee Honey Bee

Honey

Bee Honey

Medicinal

Plants

x x Tamarind Inland

fish

Medicinal

Plants

Domestic

fruits

Medicinal

Plants

Medicinal

Plants

Medicinal

Plants

Tamarind x x x Inland

Fish

Tamarind Tamarind Tamarind Tamarind Tamarind

Inland Fish x x x x Inland

Fish

Inland

Fish

Inland

Fish

Inland Fish Inland Fish

Wood apple x x x x x Domestic

fruits

Wood

apple

Palmayrah Oil seeds

Domestic

fruits

x x x x x x Wild fruits Domestic

fruits

Domestic

fruits

Wild fruits x Wild fruits Wild fruits

Palmayrah x x x x x x x x Palmayrah

Oil seeds x x x x x x x x x

Score 8 5 6 7 1 3 3 2 1

Rank 1 4 3 2 8 5 5 7 8

4. Non Timber

Forest Product Analysis

4.0 Wild Bee Honey Nainamadu forest reserve is

endowed with forests and

woodlands contain diverse

flowering plants plant species of

322(IUCN report on NFR 2013)

that provide surplus nectar and pollen to foraging bees, own big honey production potential.

The study reveals more than 65% of the HHs of the study area of 8 GNDs are active in bee honey

gathering. Wild bee honey gathering in Nainamdu forest area has been a practice for many

7% 9%

14%

30%

40%

Chart 7: Respondent by age group of honey extractors

20 -27 28 - 35 36 - 43 44 - 50 <50

Page 15 of 50

generations. The wild honey gatherers recalled that their parents in the early 1950s and even before

had been doing the same trade, while 7% of them had been engaged in this kind of work for 6 to 10

years. High number of (40% of age >50) of the wild honey gatherers had been in this trade for more

than 20 years already.

Based on the interview with the honey gatherers, the Wild bee honey gathering was not their main

source of income. Majority of them indicated that they engaged in this activity to augment their

family income. The survey showed that more than 70 % of them considered farming as their main

source of livelihood while the rest (30%) were engaged in inland fishing and low skilled work such as

food vending, carpentry, masonry,

seasonal farm workers and laborers.

Seasonality of Bee Colony and

Honey Harvest

Honey bees are in evidence in the area

from the month of March to October.

However, the peak season occurs

during in the months of June to August

where about 65% of the villagers

harvest honey. For households, these

honey harvesting seasonal months

coincide with the free time after the Maha seasonal paddy cultivation activities, It’s a common

practice they skip the yala cultivation because sustain the cultivation without irrigation facilities is

impossible and the time when they experience shortage of income for their household expenses and

they supplement their needs by engaging in honeybee livelihood activities. 25 respondents

interviewed were involved in the wild bee honey collection, the average days of bee honey collections

range from 60 – 75 days. Most of them are illiterates were unable to come out with proper past inflow

and outflow expenditure pattern, were made to approximate from the recent days inflow and out

flows. The volume of collection of honey is recorded in the chart 8.

The wild bee honey gatherers day starts at dawn before 6 a.m. They roam the surrounding forests the

whole day and return to their communities in the late afternoon with their honey harvests. During the

peak months, the honey gatherers reach many parts of these forests where they look for hives to

harvest.

Experienced honey gatherers have acquired the indigenous knowledge and skills in tracking wild

honey hives. They use plants that bees forage upon early in the morning to guide them in locating the

direction of bee hives as well as estimate the distance that they need to cover to look for them. Most

of them know which type of trees the hives can often be found. Years of doing this trade has also

given them skills in visually identifying which hives are full of honey and which ones are already

wasted.

Whenever the gatherers spot a hive, they produce smoke to drive away the wild bees by lighting a

torch consisting of young coconut leaves mixed with dried leaves. Thereafter, a member will climb

the tree and approach the hive, bringing the smoking torch to further drive the wild bees, cut the head

of the hive and lower it down to the other team members who wait on the ground. They gather the

honey and destroy or leave the honeycomb behind. Then they proceed to look for another hive and do

the same procedure until all their containers are full or until they decide to go back to their home .

17%

52%

31%

Chart 8 :Volume of wild Honey Extractered by the respondents interviewed in % of 2012

seasonal

100> Bottle 100 -200 Bottle 200 -300 Bottle

Page 16 of 50

The gatherers harvest honey only from hives which are full. A big hive can store up to 15 to 20 bottles

of honey. Each 10 bottle has an estimated one kilo of beeswax which they leave behind as they see no

income from it or they don’t know anyone who buys them. They practice collective gathering and

sharing of benefits from forest products. Apart from strong social cohesiveness, this practice helps to

minimize risks when entering the forest and increases efficiency by promoting a specialization of

tasks within the group.

The data in the above chart reveals that the respondents were able to harvest at least 100 bottles as

individual share in a season. In the case of higher volume harvest where the total members in the

household men and women join and unite as a honey gathering group and more time roaming in the

forests, locating a safe and secure place with availability of water for cooking (women’s

responsibility) and drinking spent nearly 60 – 75 days covering the annual season were those who

harvested more than 100 to maximum of 300 of bottles in a season; eventually the total harvest goes

as sole of the house hold. In the 8 GNDs of Vavuniya north nearly 65% that’s approximately 600

gatherers involve in the wild bee honey gathering during the annual season and the annual average

harvest of wild bee honey is estimated as 6000 bottles (750ml). The selling price ranges from Rs

250/= to 400/=. According to the current study, it provides an average employment of only 60-75 man

days per year. Therefore they depend on multiple sectors for their income and employment.

Marketing of Honey

A large base of Nainamadu village population are engaged in the collection of wild honey ,from the

Nainamadu forest reserve but in the absence of a processing facility, honey collectors are forced to

sell the honey unprocessed as raw at throw away prices and unable to realize the optimum value since

unprocessed raw honey has marginal market value. That people most likely to be involved in NTFP

use (namely rural communities) have very limited access to technology. As such, it is likely that they

will end up selling the NTFP in a relatively 'raw' state to an intermediary who will then end up selling

it to an assembler. The profit margin increases the further up the chain you go and the harvester would

thus realise the least profit margin.

Marketing Constraints

Honey gatherers living in or near to forest, or working in other remote and poor areas are likely to

encounter many constraints when it comes to finding a market for their products. These constraints

are likely to include some of the following:

Lack of access to suitable containers for storing, transporting and marketing honey.

Poor diversity of retail packaging materials always using recycled arrack bottles.

Lack of transport.

Lack of communication possibilities.

Lack of bargaining power.

Lack of organizational support.

Lack of training and technical advice, the honey is extracted under very difficult circumstances of

unhygienic environment likelihoods to get contaminated with extraneous materials and of high

moisture content.

Poor market access.

Issues faced by traders

In turn, traders who deal in honey (or beeswax) find it difficult to buy from a scattered population of

small-scale producers. These are the constraints typically faced by traders:

Lack of access to products of sufficient quality.

Turbidity, dense dark and cloudy, Particulate contamination in the bottled honey,

Page 17 of 50

Contains extraneous materials, wax flakes, bee parts, soot, and plant materials.

Poor diversity of retail packaging materials. Lack of access to products of sufficient quantity

in uniform packing.

No linkages between producers and buyers.

Lack of access to, or non-availability of credit.

Different buyers having differing quality and quantity requirements.

Honey retailers in cities are often hesitant to pay cash on delivery: traders providing honey for retail

sale must wait until their honey is sold before they receive payment. This explains why traders sell

honey where they can - even though the price paid is low, immediate payment can be essential for

resource-poor sellers.

Grades and Value of Honey Sold in the Markets

Low Value Packages

The product of this segment is from the local honey hunters, no proper processing, raw direct from the

forest dark and cloudy with particulates and no uniformity in the volume or the size of the container,

packed in recycled glass bottles of 750 ml, 250 ml, 100 ml – 50 ml price from Rs 1000 – 50,

consumption of medicinal and religious purpose. The sales out lets are pharmaceuticals and fruit stalls

within the public market complex. In the interview with dominant whole seller of Honey, no more

stock of wild honey of local produce and waiting for the forth coming seasonal harvest. His trade is

maintaining an annual sales of 2000 bottles (750 ml) . According to his turn over pattern there is a

growing demand for local honey and seen there are no competition between import honey and locally

produced honey if it is maintained the quality of the local bee honey is clearly filtered and without

any of adulterations.

High Value Packages

All the honey bottles show cased in the shop doors of super markets are imported; those are

processed through a very hygienic value addition process cycle. It should pack in air tight

containers and perfectly capped to arrest post process contamination. The products are very

clear with labels displaying the source of origin, shelf life etc, and user friendly package of

squeeze type. The marketers were bit reluctant to share the datas of sales volume, might be of

business secret and competitions, but it has pointed out by them the sales of imported honey

is very to compare with local honey. Still honey is not considered as health food item , the

local consumers are not keen or donot have the attitude to use honey as an ingredient in food

preparation.The honey is with a niche market of sales to the religious temple festival

purposes and medicinal usages only, and having less valued as a food product. Table 6: Honey grades in the market

Source of Origin Volume Price Sales out let

01 Imported from Thailand packed by

Local agents Edinborough food

processers Ltd

500 ml 655.00 Vavuniya MPCS


Local Packers Edinborough FP Ltd



Local agent Edinborough FP Ltd


04 Australian 500 ml 620.00 Cargills Food City,

Vavuniya

05 Darbur India 100ml 225.00 Cargills Food City

06 Darbur India 50ml 115.00 Cargills Food City

Page 18 of 50

Wild Bee honey Cost Analysis

The survey was conducted during the off season of honey collection and was not conducive to

conduct any experimentation, on the cost of putting a unit (bottle) of drained honey on the market; the

farm gate price of a bottle of honey varies (250 – 450) from one collector to another and within each

village. This variation could be attributable to the conversion ratio, locational difference, type and

form of raw material. Quantity of raw material (comb and partially drained honey) used and quantity

of final product (drained honey) obtained by the extractor/producer were to be used to arrive at the

mean conversion ratio and the cost per bottle of raw material. The conversion ratio of comb honey is

not constant and depends on the storage of honey in the comb and processing techniques used

The extraction process involves always a collective approach as groups, the extraction and the

individual share is portioned in the jungles without any of the proper measurements tools, just

randomly on volumetric, what is the container in hand is used as the tool for the portioning of equal

share, based on traditional social / cultural norms, everyone is expected to return home with his/her

equal share. The price of a bottle of drained honey to be determined by an experimentation of accurate

measurements of the raw materials and the out puts based on a marketing approach. The economic

value of bee wax is not realized, goes as a reject thrown out in the jungles. For every 10 bottles of

honey 1kg of bee wax too harvested. The current market value of a kg of bee wax is Rs 800.00-

1200.00

By their empirical experiences of honey collectors, an average recovery is 65% drained honey from

the non extracted comb. The conversion ratio for partially drained fluid honey depends on the quantity

of debris that it contains.

Page 19 of 50

Chart 9: Honey supply chain

The cost of the raw material depends on the form of the products and location and the time spent (cost

of labour) in the extraction. By the extractor’s empirical experiences, an average of 3 man days spent

for the collection of 10 bottles of honey. Cost of extraction is to be calculated at the rate of Rs 300 per

bottle. It’s evident that in certain extent honey is sold without any margin for their hard earnings. The

poor producers are not “price setters” their distress situation compelled them to accept low value just

as, “price takers”.It’s very evident that the local extractors have little say in changing the NTFP

market since regulation is largely out of their hands .Prices, market opportunities, and value additions

are regulated or performed by a string of intermediaries which forces local extractors to remain at the

least profitable and most vulnerable level of production, provision of raw material. When the value of

production accrues to intermediaries, extractives remain poor regardless of the amount of wealth they

generate. Improved supply chain without much layer of intermediaries is the answer for these

constraints is described in the following chapter.

Price determinant factors

Remoteness, lack of transport,

Lack of market information 40%

Producers accepting lower price

because of the emerging needs-

30%

Lack of proper processing, storage

facilities, finance constraints for

the procurement of Jerry cans,

quality packaging materials-20%

Demanding for higher price with

their own confidence on the

quality and source of origin and

with financial capacity to store

until they reach higher demand -

10%

NFR Wild Bee Honey Supply Chain (Conventional)

Direct Buyers’ (Friends, Relatives, neighbors)

NRF, Bee Honey

Extractors

Intermediaries

Rs 250- 400/=

Urban whole sellers

/Distributors,

Rs 500- 600/=

Retail outlets

Rs 700-800

Consumers

Rs 800 -1000/=

Rs 450 -500

Pri

ce S

pre

ad i

n t

he

supply

Ch

ain

Page 20 of 50

Homestead Bee keeping in the study areas

Homestead bee keeping is recently introduced in 5 GNDs. 54 HHs are provided with newly improved

top bar hives and the tools, one adult member mixed male and female from each HHs is trained in bee

keeping and motivated by organizing them to a study visit and exposure to a bee keeping village in

Dambulla. The respondents are highly enthusiastic with services rendered by the SLF.The

respondents mentioned a wide range of accessories, prices and services periods that goes hand in hand

with beekeeping practices. 6 volunteers of Sewalanka Foundations are having close linkages with the

bee keepers to attend to their extension service needs then and there.

The survey period was during the risk of heavy raining and flooding the feed sources (bee flora) were

affected because of which the honey bee cannot get nectar and pollen. Therefore, the honeybee colony

absconds to areas where resources are available for their survival. During the visit boxes of 3 HHs

were seen empty without colony.

The project is in it start up stage, It’s in the buildup period and able to gauge the inside developments

of 3 or 4 hives, it was able to observe the increase in the rearing of brood and the pollen and nectar

storage in the bars of the hives through the observation mirror , also was able to measure the progress

of the project , the willingness and the interests shown by the respondents in the management of the

colony, seen as future hopes.

Constraints for the industry as a whole

For reasons touched upon in the above paragraphs on constraints in marketing, apiculture as a sector

tends to be poorly recognized and with little lobbying power. The producers are likely to be amongst

the most remote and most poor people, and the apiculture sector is not easily identifiable or

recognizable. These are some of the reasons and consequences validated in the Focus group

discussion and Key informant Interviews with the Gatherers, home stead bee keepers, Traders and

Consumers.

Availability of bee hives, there is no any bee hive fabrication, repairing, trading systems

beyond Matale, these services are out of reach for the rural people.

Because of the shortage of bee hive boxes, high number of traditional wild honey bee hunters

left out of the Home stead honey bee rearing, their skills and knowledge on queen bee

hunting, bee rearing is untapped.

Lack of appropriate extension material.

Lack of appropriate marketing information.

Lack of strong organizations representing the interests of beekeepers.

Poor linkages between producers and buyers.

Lack of connectivity to the lucrative urban market, lack of transport facilities.

Little coordination between beekeeping and other sectors, including the horticulture, forestry,

health, and environment sectors.

Little or no product promotion.

No national or global agreement on honey criteria.

For all of the above reasons, beekeepers and honey hunters can gain much by forming

groups or cooperatives.

Page 21 of 50

Conclusions

The following are the conclusions on bee honey of the study: Wild bee honey gathering is a long time

trade practiced by the rural poor living along the forest-edge in order to augment their family income.

The amount brought about by wild honey harvesting comprised almost one third to fifth of their total

annual income which can substantially help defray their living costs. Further marketing development

of wild honey may add to their income potential. Organized gatherers link the importance of

protecting the forest and the wild honey bees (WHBs).

The honey and wax extraction is undertaken by a wide range of NTFPs users of NFR.

A Large but unknown amount of bee honey are removed outside during the season. Due to lack of

connectivity to more lucrative markets at provincial, national or global levels. As a result,

incentives remain weak, investments remain low, and so does the level of technology adoption

and productivity, resulting into a low level equilibrium poverty trap.

The economic value of the bee wax not realized goes as a reject, thrown out in the jungles.

Majority of the respondents and the villagers participated in the survey are keen to become as bee

keepers as a livelihoods activity to earn a diversified income, youths with the capacity to gather

vocational skill to get engaged in income generation activities as bee keepers, hive makers. These

potential resources to be tapped by making them to involve in appropriate lines of apiary.

Recommendations

Immediate actions to be taken up to establish a workshop with required machineries to be equipped

for the commencement of the rapid fabrication of Bee hive boxes. The bee hives to be distributed to

the wild bee honey hunters to get engaged in eco-friendly sustainable bee honey production by non

destructive home stead bee rearing practices.

Two instruments appear critical to break this deadlock for the small holders marketing: one is physical

infrastructure such as information technology, roads, transport etc. that connects smallholders to

markets; and the other is the role of accompanying institutions that can reduce the marketing risk and

transaction costs in the process of exchange between producers and consumers.

Smallholders, due to their small surpluses in production, generally are exposed to higher degree of

risk and transaction costs. So any innovative institutions that link ‘farms to markets’, reduce their

transaction costs and minimize risk will help them to participate in markets.

Current initiatives to this effect, linking honey collectors to market, are notable, dialog with certain

organization with strong supply chain and with Cooperate Social Responsibility to uplifting small

holders.

1) The Cargills Food City

2) Saaraketha Holdings

3) Rasiah Pharmaceuticals of Vavuniya.

These are some of the Region and Nationwide big retail houses / Wholesale distributors /exporters

act as aggregators of demand, buffering manufacturers from small orders and logistics complexity. As

consolidators, they represent multiple, sometimes competing suppliers, placing the manufacturer’s

inventory closer to consumption for faster delivery,

Page 22 of 50

Chart 10:

Infrastructure for Quality production:

Multiplier effects: In many societies honey is not a highly visible commodity. Better quality honey,

presented in attractive containers for sale will stimulate local trade and this in turn leads to an increase

of beekeeping activities.

A modern honey processing plant with quality control functions and capabilities to produce refined,

high quality product is an imperative requirement in the area. It would position the Nainamadu as a

key honey processing center and would assist in realization of higher value margins for the final

product. It would also enable Nainamadu to increase its share in the lucrative market.

The New Improved Honey Value chain and the proposed price spread

30.76

%

This margin is slightly high could

be reduced to 25%

The cost to be analyzed, with an

experimentation to determine the recovery

rates, must be particular on extractor’s

margin not be reduced in an ecological

perspectives, motivation factor for the

conservation, non destructive approaches

Honey Extractors

Cluster Collection

centre

Processing unit

Super market

chain/Retail House

Consumer

Rs500/=

500

Rs550/=

550

Rs650/=

6650650/=

650

Logistics, ware house labour

charges

Processing cost + Over heads

Rs 850/=

Logistics, ware house labour charges,

commissions tax

41.17%

10%

18.18%

Rs

650

Page 23 of 50

Ecological tourism industry: Another potential for wild honey gathering is the idea that it can be

linked to the ecological tourism industry. In other Asian countries such as Bangaladesh, India,

Indonesia, Cambodia traditional wild honey gathering has been packaged as an ecological tourism

activity (Kevan 1995). Tourists will join the team as they roam the forest and harvest hives thereby

earning additional income as tour guides and other community services that can be offered.

Potential Intervention for the Development of Honey Value Chain

Factor Potential intervention

1

Organizing cluster level

producer groups

1. Community meetings to get oriented with the objectives

2. Targeting: Identification of most vulnerable deserves

external support for the improvement of their livelihoods.

Priority be given for the HHs exists in the NTFPs.

HHs deprived of land for agriculture nearly 20% are in

this category of 8GNDs

Economically active age group of 19 – 37, exploring job

opportunities 27% most of the young adult women with

basic educational backgrounds.

Women headed households nearly 27%

Relying on wage labour, with meager earnings need

alternate income opportunities more than 35%

2

Participatory monitoring and

Sustainable harvesting

Organizing forest user groups ,

Strengthening joint management system by series of

trainings on sustainable honey harvesting practices.

Mobilizing and sensitizing on non destructive extraction

process.

Look into the viability have a data system, monitoring of

seasonal harvesting, to have records on the distribution of

bee host trees and the extractors HHs details to check the

harvesting approaches impacts,

Develop a transition system keeping logs or hives closer to

the host trees, to have the honey bee colony to rear in the

homestead bee hives.

Raising awareness to the community on the overall situation

of their natural resources on which their enterprise is based

and are involved in monitoring them, make them to develop

a greater sense of involving in the project and a deeper

understanding of issues surrounding natural resource

sustainability.

3

Trainings and capacity

buildings

Training needs assessments.

Investigations on Willingness and dedications, area of

interests, family backgrounds, prior skills and experiences,

educational background.

4

Establish and strengthen

Linkages with Training

institutions and knowledge

providers.

1. Agriculture department Gannoruwa for Apiculture.

2. Chamber of commerce for business promotion,

marketing, finance management.

3. Dept of Agri: Organic agriculture practices.

4. DOF; Joint forest management

Page 24 of 50

5

Organizing rural collection

centers.

Need based creation of basic marketing infrastructure like

weighing machine, quality control equipments and storage

space etc. at the cluster level facilitates engagement of poor

in the collection of NTFPs and follows up with primary

processing.

Mobilize the extractors towards sustainable harvesting by

providing Extraction kits, containers, robe ladders, overalls

and helmets (Mask).

6

Organizational structure Decide on the governance of the collection centers

Organizing the management body.

Assigning responsibilities based on incentives

Organizing the procurements of honey comb, staff is to be

well trained in the determination of price billing and

payments system according to the quality and quantity

parameters.

7

Pre processing Staffs dealing in the processing are to be trained in HACCP

to maintain high sanitation standards in every steps of the

processing.

8

Transport and logistics To ensure availability of raw material in right time, the right

quantity and the right quality, Inbound transport system

linking the collection areas to collection centers and to the

processing unit must be there,

During the transport of bee honey products commodities

high sanitary practices to be maintained. Lidded containers

of food grade stainless steel should be utilized.

9

Packaging Cleaned and sterilized bottles to be of uniform size are

tamper proof are to be utilized for packaging.

Well descriptive labels to the current market trend are to be

designed and printed, the package itself to sell the product.

Shelf life of the product to be determined very scientifically

based on the moisture content and the hygienic standards

maintained during extraction of honey and the consequent

processing operation and ultimately how the honey is sealed

in the sterile condition and steps taken to prolong the

keeping quality.

10

Marketing Before entering the product in the market, market

acceptability of the product must be gauged by supplying

the samples to the marketing agencies.

What do potential buyers judge our products, what might

make it more attractive, what the price in return we will get,

what the share goes to distributors.

11

Negotiation with marketing

agencies and follow ups

Initial negotiation to come to a viable agreement is there

with Cargills Food City super market chain. Final terms to

be discussed and agreed upon with their sales commission

basis.

The proposed price spread of bee honey (Page 23) is worked

out with the standard marketing system of cargills. The

Page 25 of 50

commission will be of 25- 30%

Saarakketha Holdings had already taken initiatives to show

case the Nainamadu bee honey in International markets,

further negotiation with the sample to catalyze the product

development and International market promotion to be

followed up with Saarakketha Holdings.

12

Establishment of a workshop

for the commencement of

fabrication of bee hive boxes.

The unavailability of bee hives is a big concern raised by the

bee keepers. There is no any manufacturing or repair unit is

beyond Matale. The urgency of a bee hive making unit in

the close proximity of the bee rearers well recognized and

taken up.

Nainamadu is identified as the centralized and suitable place

to locate the work shop.

Keep a target, number of hives, time frame, additional 200

HHs to be selected, hives to be distributed. A target may be

of 3-5: Hives per HHs based on the family size. To attain

the production level of 60-100 bottles per year, to earn

30,000.00 to 40,000.00 as annual earnings from bee

keeping.

Capacity of the processing unit to be planned and expanded

to accommodate the additional production.

HHs with economically active age group of 19-37 expressed

more willingness to engage in bee keeping.

Not distributing the hives alone it should be of

comprehensive package. The hive with the colony and

training on colony management practices, also extension

officers Vs beekeepers ratio to be retained.

13

Commercialization of bee

wax

Commercial value of bee wax is not recognized. just thrown

out in the jungle. For every 10 bottles of honey 1 kg of bee

wax is extracted. It has a market value of 850.00 to 1000.00

per kg in the rural markets but very high in the urban market

for its pharmaceutical value. Nearly 510,000.00 Rupees

worth of wax is worsted annually.

All the wild bee honey hunters to be made well aware about

commercial value of the bee wax, they must be motivated

with proper extraction process, separation of the comb

without impacting the future sustenance of the bee colony.

There should be a transparent valuation and payment

process in place to have the clear understanding of the value

of the extracted honey and the value of the byproduct the

bee wax.

14

Establishment of a

Manufacturing unit for bee

wax pharmaceutical and

allied products

Proper equipments and utensils for the manufacture of bee

wax products to be procured and equipped in the collection

unit and the necessary arrangements to be made for the

commencement of the productions.

4.1 Tamarind During the eco-walk In the villages of Anantharpuliankulam and Kulavisuddan GN Divisions the

tamarind trees are found apparently in every homesteads, wild in the jungle, on the sites of the roads,

Page 26 of 50

along the water streams, tamarind is widely spread not less than 5 trees per1 km, and grown as a

subsistence crop for meeting local demands. It is also grown commercially. It is very conspicuous in

the dry regions, every village having several, and an often magnificent specimen the trees of girth

sizes > 300 cms. Producing an annual fruit yield in the range of more than 500 kg/tree. The

participatory yield assessment reveals that the total annual harvest in the 2 GNDs Kulavisuddan and

Anantharpuliyankulam will be approximately 220 tons (Participatory Inventory methodology and the

data sheets are in the Annex 7).

Yield analysis Partial destructive sampling of tamarind tree

Female members of HH collect raw tamarind from their own trees or from the common areas. The

male members of the collector family climb up the tree, and either shake the branches or beat them

using a long stick. The fruits thus falling on the ground are collected by women and children of the

family. If tamarind fruits are dried on the tree, de-shelling (removing the shell from pulp) is done

immediately on ground by pressing with fingers or by beating with a small stick. If tamarind fruit are

not dried, 1 day sundry is given and then de-shelling is done.Mainly three types of functions are

performed at the village level for selling tamarind to the traders. These are, harvesting, sun drying and

de-shelling of the collected tamarind. Selling price of tamarind depends on the selling pattern.

Generally three types of selling pattern have been observed. People sell tamarind more on weight

basis a bag full of pods normally weighs 40 kgs. The traders/intermediaries come directly to the

village and collect tamarind from each household. Although the price is not fixed all the time, it

mostly depends on the seasonal harvest of the crop, in the area and surroundings.

Second process is leasing the entire tree to the village level trader/intermediary, which also happens to

be the most frequently practiced pattern of sale. After seeing the crop, the trader decides the price of

the crop. A full grown tree produces around 5 – 6 of minmum (40 kgs ) bags full of pods. It was found

that villagers prefer to sell the entire tree to the trader to get a lump sum amount at a time. For the

following reasons, they sell the fruits while in the plant. Harvesting of fruits is very physically

strenuous as considered by community. The community has lack of knowledge on market dynamics.

In this process the entire cost of harvesting, de-shelling and packing is borne by the trader.

The fruiting season generally runs from April to Aug. The tree owners /Farmers mostly sell bagful of

tamarind 40kg for Rs 800 (as at March 2013) to rural assemblers/intermediaries who are often, but not

always, employed on a commission basis by traders who also act as transporters. These traders are

the market actors, who deal with the wholesalers of the area.

Tamarind is marketed in the grades as follows

Grade 1: de-husked, deseeded and processed dehydrated in the form of paste 160.00 (not the

market value, at this rate a women producer selling her tamarind paste at Nedunkerny at her

own petty trading shop)

Grade 2:de-husked and with seeds and no fibres kg 70.00

Grade 3: de-husked, with seed and fibres 65.00

Grade 4: as raw pods, price Rs 800 of 40 kg bags. Rs 20/kg

Page 27 of 50

Focus Group Discussion (FGD) and Key Interview Informants (KII) with 4 whole sale and retail

tamarind traders of Vavuniya market validates that the quantity of tamarind that enters their marketing

chain is approximately 100 – 120 tonnes per annum as semi processed of grade 2. Buying price is Rs

80.00 the day’s market value as 20th march, 2013. Selling price of the same grade 2 tamarind at Coop

super market and Venkateshwara super market is 120.00 as 20th of March, 2013

More than 60 % of the tamarind requirement of Vavuniya District is traded from the out district

Markets of Dam bulla and Kekirawa. It could be ascertained as 100 – 120 tons of tamarind is the

annual demand of Vavuniya Market is supplied by the out District supplies of tamarind in the semi

processed Grade 2 form.

During the household survey in the study area of

Kulavisuddan and Nainamadu GNDs were able to

observe women are involved in processing of

tamarind paste. The process is very labor intensive

and a lengthy process involves, de shelling,

destalking, and soaking the fruits for overnight

further de seeded by extracting the pulp manually

by hand and sun drying for more than 5 days to get dried to rubbery form. From 5 kgs of tamarind

pods 1 kg of dried paste is obtained.

The above photo shows: a women respondent of Kulavisuddan GNDs is involved in cottage level

tamarind paste production, drying the tamarind pods to ready for further processing

Constraints in the Marketing

The major constraint to increasing the welfare of NTFPs smallholders is their inability to access

markets.

Remoteness results in reduced farm-gate prices, returns to labour and capital, and increased input

and transaction costs.

This, in turn, reduces incentives to participate in economic transactions and results in subsistence

rather than market-oriented production systems.

Sparsely populated rural areas, and high transport costs are physical barriers to accessing markets;

lack of negotiating skills, lack of collective organizations and lack of market information are other

impediments to market access

Capability

Low scale (seasonal) of production never allows poor to fetch market price

Distress sales due to pressure of immediate cash needs

Lack skills to respond to market led standards

Lack knowledge on secondary processing and value addition

Lack of market awareness and interaction limited to village level traders

Lack of coping mechanism for price fluctuation

Lack of infrastructure for primary processing like drying, cleaning, packaging, weighing scale

etc.

Poor storage and transport facilities Lack of appropriate technology for value addition

Page 28 of 50

Conclusion

Moving through a higher order of complexities

Moving through a higher order of complexities would ready poor to graduate to start

collective enterprises.

This phase would require greater understanding of the secondary processing and value

addition and would allow seamless vertical movement for a range of production. e.g.

Raw Tamarind Seedless Tamarind Tamarind paste

Potential Intervention for the Value Chain Development of Tamarind


1


producer groups


4. Targeting: Identification of most vulnerable, deserves


Priority for HHs exists in the collection, processing and

marketing of tamarind.



More focus on economically active age group of women

exploring job opportunities 27% most of the young

adults with basic educational backgrounds.




2

Participatory monitoring and

Sustainable harvesting

Strengthening joint management system by series of

trainings on sustainable harvesting practices.

Sensitizing the tamarind tree growers to stop leasing of

trees, which is of less remunerative

Raising awareness on the overall situation of their natural

resources on which their enterprise is based and are involved

in monitoring them, make them to develop a greater sense of

involving in the project and a deeper understanding of issues

surrounding natural resource sustainability.

Monitoring of seasonal harvesting, to have records on the

distribution of tamarind trees and the HHs details to check

the harvesting, whether the tree is utilized or harvest is

neglected and the resource is underutilized and to take steps

for the harvestings and collection of fruits.

3 Trainings and capacity Training needs assessments.

Page 29 of 50

buildings Investigations on Willingness and dedications, area of



4




providers.

1. IPHT Anuradhapura, many researches were done on post

harvest technology for the tamarind. Process methodology

was developed. Training modules are developed and in hand

with the required capacity for the dissemination.

2. Chamber of commerce for Trainings for business

promotion, marketing, finance management.

3. Dept of Agri: Organic agriculture practices.

4. DOF; Joint forest management

5


centers.


weighing machine, drying platform, and storage space etc. at

the cluster level to facilitate the engagement of poor in the

collection of tamarind and follow up with primary

processing.

6

Organizational structure Decide on the governance of the collection centers



Organizing the procurements of tamarind pods, staff is to be

well trained in the determination of price billing and

payments system according to the quality and quantity

parameters.

7

Pre processing Trainings to be organized in processing and packaging

Staffs dealing in the processing are to be trained in HACCP


processing.

8

Transport and logistics Inbound transport system linking the collection areas to

collection centers and to the processing unit must be there,

to ensure availability of raw material in right time, the right

quantity and the right quality.

During the transport of food commodities high sanitary

practices to be maintained. Lidded containers of food grade

stainless steel should be utilized.

9

Packaging Cleaned and sterilized bottles and synthetic pouches to be of

uniform size are tamper proof are to be utilized.


designed and printed the package itself to sell the product.



maintained during processing of tamarind and the

consequent processing operation and ultimately how the

end product is sealed in the sterile condition and steps taken

to prolong the keeping quality.

10




Page 30 of 50




Negotiation underway with local vavuniya wholesalers

Vavuniya MPCS, Gunam & Co of Tharmalingam Road,

Vavuniya and Thayalan Trading of Tharmalingam Road,

Vavuniya, for the trading of semi processed tamarind , de-

husked with seeds of grade 2 qualities. Follow up with the

submission of samples.

11




with Cargill’s Food City super market chain. Final terms to


basis.

Saarakketha also interested in the market promotion of the

local produces of small holders. They are willing to give

support for us in brand development aspects. Technical

advice designing and printing of labels to the current market

trend.

4.2 Wild and Domestic Fruits of NFR By all accounts the study reveals that the Nainamadu forest Reserve has an ample supply of wood

apples and many other wild varieties to make it a major force in local, provincial and national small

fruit markets. However, having the resource and knowing how much is available annually and

harvesting it are two different things. There are no any records on wild fruits of past collections of

quantities or quantities sold.

There have been wild fruits such as Paalai, Weerai, Murali, Uluvinthai harvest for centuries in the

Nainamadu forest and a lot of the oral history is available through the local population. Different

attempts have been made to expand and establish the domestic level wild fruit harvest into a

commercialized process, compared to the cottage industry that it has developed into making of

treacle/syrup from Paalai and uluvinthai rich in medicinal values healings many of the growing

children’s ailments. This has not worked for several reasons; one of them being a lack of basic science

and knowledge of the fruits themselves and where they grow and the lack of basic infrastructures.

Harvesting is the biggest issue facing the development of the wild fruit trade industry. Our harvesters

are getting older (75-80 % are 50 years of age and older) and the younger generation does not see or

are interested in harvesting wild fruits as a means to generate or supplement ones income. Finally,

most harvesters pick for either their own use or to sell to individual markets in their neighborhoods,

the road sides of the high ways, transit locations like Murukandy Temple at A9 high way, temple

festivals that they have secured their market over the past number of years.

Page 31 of 50

Road side Palu (wild fruit) sellers Palu fruits for sale in a road side at Murukandy

Potential Markets

Many interviews and consultation with the traders, Marketing agencies reveals that the demand for

indigenous fruits products have grown in recent years because they are known to be rich in vitamins,

foliates and other nutrients. Forest fruits are grown in a pristine environment that is free from

pesticides and pollution making these fruits more attractive to Perspective Company’s involved in the

processing of pharmaceutical syrups.

In order to commercialize NFR indigenous fruits, it is important that they can be marketed to a

number of different industries like Agro processing, pharmaceuticals. The way in which they are

marketed will have a significant influence on the price they will command and the quality and

quantities that will be expected. In consulting with individuals involved in marketing and research and

development at Chamber of commerce, Agro Processers and with individuals involved in the fruit

processing industry, several potential marketing ideas were explored.

There is nowadays a great deal of nationwide interest in indigenous fruits and their beneficial health

effects. Medical and nutritional studies are being conducted in many countries concerning the

chemical content of indigenous fruits and their health implications (Gampaha, Native forest

Foundation news letter- 2005). It has been shown that forest fruits can form significant component of

a healthy diet owing to there:

High fiber content

High content of antioxidant vitamins

High content of potassium and other minerals

Low sodium content

Health-promoting seed oils, and

High content of phenolic compounds.

Forest fruits contain high concentrations of water and are, therefore, low energy foodstuffs. Most of

the energy content of forest fruits derives from the presence of various sugars. However, they also

contain proteins and fat, albeit in very low proportions. The fat content of forest fruit is of very high

quality as it consists of essential health promoting fatty acids. For this reason seeds should not be

discarded during food preparation. Forest fruits contain no cholesterol.

Page 32 of 50

Fruits of Indigenous species in the Dambulla Whole sale market Picture by: eswaran

Issues and constraints in marketing

In a Face to face interview with a Commission Agent of the dedicated economic Zone of Dambulla

pointed out that the Dambulla Whole sale market is the hub for the marketing of Agricultural

producers cultivated around the North Eastern, North central ,Central Provinces, Nuweraeliya and

Polonaruwa Districts. Nearly 26500 metric tons of fruits and vegetables are dealt in a week. The

trader’s practices the commission based (2%) fruits and vegetable trading rather than buying and

selling.

The peak starts from January and a trough in April to June, inadequate storage facilities lead to

surplus, the system there for exhibits wide seasonal fluctuation. This situation is more evident in the

case of fruits and vegetables.

During the peak supply season, the fresh fruits and vegetables supply systems typically records

wastage of around 30 to 40 percent. The trader point out that during every step of transport

preparation and packaging, fruits and vegetables are subject to bruising and spoilage as a result the

amount goes as waste also increases greatly, 30 tons per months.

All the out lets in the economic zones are decoupling points closer to the consumers, it takes

considerable time to move their inventory, this causes a large percentage of perishing, the issue is

determining the life time of the fruits and vegetables is short and if this duration is not properly

managed it cause problem.

Adaptation of conventional transport system and its impact

Under the conventional system fruits and vegetables are packed in gunny bags and transported in

ordinary Lorries. The charge levied for the transport by lorry is determined by the number of gunny

Page 33 of 50

bags transported; the system encouraged the producers to pack maximum amount in a gunny bag and

to accommodate the maximum number of bags per lorry.

Producers are much reluctant to adopt the improved transport system, packing in plastic crates and

transport in a less or no damage mode of transport, though it’s expensive by nearly 30 – 40% than

the conventional system, but the cost disadvantage is more than compensated by improved product

quality and higher overall prices.

During the discussion among the vendors, producers and the lorry transporters, the new market trend

of the Cargill’s Super market chain functioning in the Thambuthegama dedicated economic Zone and

other areas was compared with existing conventional system, Cargill’s operating a ware house system

considered as a separate cost – center in their management system. This constitutes a new approach

under which the warehouse operates as a nonprofit, no loss basis. The procurement process is handled

by the ware house operators.

The produce brought to the warehouse graded and packed and sent to the super market for sale. The

super market typically retains a sale margin of around 22-25%. This elimination of several

intermediate layers in the traditional supply chain has enabled the super market to substantially reduce

costs, the benefits of which are, in part, passed on to the producer.

Development of a fruit processing Industry for the processing of indigenous fruits of NFR

The initial stage of research and development within the indigenous forest fruit, assessing the

potential opportunities include the establishment of a year round processing operation for all the

available domestic and wild fruits tree species of NFR in the study area of 6 GNDs. Developing the

fruit industry will require assessing harvesting capacity and harvesting requirements both from a food

industry perspective and a business perspective. With the development of the fruit industry more

harvesters will be required to supply and meet industry demand.

Functional Beverages

There are lots of products prepared from the indigenous fruits and medicinal plants extract penetrating

in the global market. Many of the processing and marketing techniques of the immediate neighboring

countries, ‘SAARC’ could be replicable under the trade coalition acts.

Functional beverage is a drink product that is non-alcoholic product become very popular in the

continental Markets and includes in its formulation ingredients such as herbs, vitamins, minerals,

amino acids or additional raw fruit or vegetables. It often claims to provide specific health benefits.

Examples include sports and performance drinks, energy drinks, ready to drink (RTD) teas, enhanced

fruit drinks, soy beverages and enhanced water.

Functional beverages have become popular due to its appeal to consumers who are seeking specific

health benefits in their foods and beverages with their 'healthiness-on-the-go' idea. Both convenience

and health have been identified as important factors when consumers make decisions about

purchasing foods and beverages. Functional drinks are promoted with benefits such as heart health,

improved immunity and digestion, joint health, satiety, and energy-boosting.

The addition of wild fruits to functional beverages has great market potential. The current consumer

market is embracing functional beverages as an easy, convenient way to get essential nutrients and

vitamins.

Page 34 of 50

Distribution and Diversity of fruit tree species in Nainamadu Forest Reserve (NFR)

Table 7: Wild Species

Local Name Botanical Name Growing areas Harvest

season

01 Vilamaram

(wood apple)

Limonia Acidicimia In all the 6 GNDs surroundings May - Sep

02 Paalai (Palu) Manilkara Hexandhra In all the 6 GNDs surroundings May - Aug

03 Weerai Drypetes sepiaria In all the 6 GNDs surroundings May - Aug

04 Murali Dimocarpus longan In all the 6 GNDs surroundings May - Aug

05 Uluvinthai In all the 6 GNDs surroundings May - Aug

06 Nelli Phyllanthus emblica In all the 6 GNDs surroundings May - Sep

07 Naaval Syzygium cumini In all the 6 GNDs surroundings Jun - Sep

Table 8: Species Distribution in the home gardens

Local Name

Botanical

Name Growing areas

Harvest

season

01 Mango Magnifera

indica

In all the 6 GNDs surroundings April - Sep

02 Papaya In all the 6 GNDs surroundings Annual

03 Jak fruit Artocarpus

heterophyllus

In all the 6 GNDs surroundings April - Sep

04 Lime, Orange Citrus

aurantifolio,

citrus cinensis

In all the 6 GNDs surroundings Annual

05 Psidium gauva Psidium gauva In all the 6 GNDs surroundings Annual

Constraints

The availability of forest fruits limited to seasonal, normally the fruits are collected from the forest

and sold fresh in the seasons. In order to plan the optimal utilization of the industry, processers must

be certain about the availability of the raw materials. It’s very evident through the interview with

traders, agro processers; the weakly developed supply chain is one of the major issues inhibiting the

development of year round profitable forest fruits business. Due to the geographic spread of the crop

transport costs faced by intermediaries are very high and direct market access to urban and peri-urban

markets by growers is limited.

Furthermore, due to this low degree of cooperation amongst growers, in combination with the high

degree of geographical dispersal of growers, there tended to be an excessive amount of ‘middlemen

are layering’ and kilometers travelled. Greater collaboration amongst such traders would not only help

keep down search costs but also allow for a faster delivery of produce to the market.

Page 35 of 50

4.3 Medicinal plant products Traditional Ayur medical practitioner Mr.Andiyappan during the interview commented that,

Nainamadu Forest reserve is a rich source of medicinal plants. The agro climatic conditions and

rainfall are favoring this bio-availability. Perhaps, the significant medicinal plants species are still

conserved without undergone any destructive changes. Many of the valuable Medicinal plants are

neglected and underutilized. Solanum Xanthocarpum, (Kantankathiri) this plant species widely

distributed all over in the NFR areas but quiet a good quantity is imported annually from India., even

various other products of native found in the area abundantly medicinal products like seeds of Naval,

Syzgium cumini are imported from India. Collection/extraction and selling or any non cash income

activities are not recorded, utility of medicinal plant is found totally neglected in the study area of all

the 8 GNDs.

A farmer of Sandilipay in his field of cultivation of Aswagantha/

Picture By: Dept of Indigenous medicine

No systematic large-scale cultivation of medicinal plants exists as yet (Pilipitiya 2010). Many

medicinal plants have been overexploited due to the lack of planned management, and as a result,

many herbal medicines that could be

grown in Sri Lanka are now imported

(e.g. kohomba (Munronia pumila),

weniwel (Cosciniun feenestratum).

Aswagantha (Withenia sominifera) is

imported from India and sold in retail

outlets at the rate of Rs1200/=/per kg.

The joint effort of Department of

Indigenous Medicine, Jaffna District

and a farmer of Sandilipay (Vali west

Division of Jaffna District) evidently

proved with higher out puts that the his

cultivation of Aswagantha is very

profitable and feasible, the agro

ecological environment of Jaffna is much suitable.for the cultivation of Aswagantha and various other

medicinal plants, pilot project was evaluated and the results , shows, from 2000 plants per acre

average yield is 200 – 250 kgs of roots average market value is Rs 1200/= total income is Rs

240000.00 (Dr.Sivarajah MO, Government Herbal Garden, Nilavarai, Puttur) ).

In the point of economical development cultivation of

Aswagantha is the best way than the importation.

Northern Province is endowed with every agro

ecological factors for the cultivation of Aswagantha

and various other medicinal plants (Taxonomist,

Senior Agro Scientist Prof.Piyal Samarasinghe),

While 68% of national demand for medicinal plants

(MPs) is currently met by local supply, stocks of

various species are increasingly scarce (Abeywardana

and Hettiaratchi, 2001). Average annual income from

Aswagantha plants grown in the Navakiri

herbal garden Picture by: eswaran

Page 36 of 50

the collection of medicinal plants in savannah forests and other forest types ranges from SL Rs.20 000

– 25000 (Bandaratillake 1998).

A Dominant Pharmaceutical Trader Mr.Cheliyan of Ms Rasiah & Co of Vavuniya and Kilinochchi,

has Listed out the Medicinal plants which are densely populated in NFR with the potential to fetch

higher market value from the Pharmaceutical industries, whole sale and retail out lets of Ayurvedhic

pharmaceuticals. The sale of plant extracts is undoubtedly increasing as evidenced by the growth of

the several pharmaceutical industries of the country, many of the products in the forms of capsules,

pills, tonics, were showcased in his own shops and the sales records witnessing the situation of the

growth and development of the medicinal plant extract industries and the growing demand for the

medicinal plants.

Pharmaceutical products made out of plants extracts displayed at Trade Fair stall at Siddha Ayur

Exibhition of Jaffna 10/06/2013, Pictured by: eswaran

A new industry has developed to produce local pharmaceutical herbal products as Government

undertaking at Atchuvely (Vali East Division of Jaffna District) and there are about 75 manufacturing

units in the country (Pilipitiya 1995). Shops selling indigenous medicines and herbal preparations are

common in both rural and urban areas (Bandaratillake 1995)

Table 9: Distribution of Medicinal Plants with potential for Market Demand in the NFR

No Local Name Botanical Name Usage

01 Kadukkai Terminalia Chebula seed

02 Karimulli Solanum Anguivi Whole Plant

03 Kantankattiri Solanum Xanthocarpum Whole Plant

04 Nochi Vitex Negundo Whole Plant

05 Paalaikkodi Leptadenia Reticulata Whole Plant

06 Peruntulaci Ocimum Gratissimum Whole Plant

07 Peyamanakku Baliospermum Montanum Seed

08 Poduthalai Phyla Nodiflora Whole Plant

09 Puliyamaram Tamarindus Indica Seed, Leaves

10 Sirukurinjan Gymnema Sylvestre Leaves

11 Parpatakam Mollugo Cerviana Whole Plant

12 Perumaruntu Aristolochia Indica leaves, bark

13 Pavattai Pavetta Indica leaves

14 Perunaval Syzygium Jambos seeds

15 Peru-nerunji Pedalium Murex leaves , seeds

16 Nilavarai Cassia Angustifolia whole plant

17 Maruthu Terminalia Arjuna bark

18 Nannari Hemidesmus Indicus root, twicks

Page 37 of 50

19 Nelli Phyllanthus Emblica fruits, leaves, barks

The case study of Medicinal Plants

The results of the field survey (PRA), Rapid market analysis (RMA) and literature review of

Medicinal plants are presented above. A short overview is given in the SWOT table. Conclusions and

recommendations are found in the next chapter.

Strength:

It’s revealed in the recent ICUN biodiversity

assessment, NFR is with diverse plant

species.

In Eastern philosophy, it is mentioned that

“Nasti mulum vanaushadhim”: no plant

created by the God is without medicinal values;

however, one has to know how to use these and

for which disease.

The demand for medicinal plants is expected

to continue to expand rapidly, fuelled by the

growth of sales of herbal supplements and

remedies.

Green consumerism and the current

resurgence of interest in the use of

"Naturals".

National and International NGO

organizations institutional development

support, with enough funding for the forest

conservation programs.

Governments Forest System Master plan

accommodating community participation in

numerous ways for the FJM and for the

sustainable harvest of NTFP resources.

FD and FWL Conservation Authorities

Empowered with legal, acts and ordinances.

Private sector interest in NTFP

entrepreneurship endeavors.

Free market economy bringing in more

openness and expanding markets and demand

for new resources, materials and products.

Various Knowledge exchange bases for

transfer of Knowledge for In-situ, Ex-Situ

conservation initiatives and development,

Universities, Indigenous Medical Institutions,

and Forest Departments.

A wider nationwide market/supply chain

network exist under the Sri Lanka Ayur

Drugs Cooperation

Weakness:

Valuable medicinal plant resources are

neglected and underutilized.

Lack of Improved information on factors that

affect the supply of medicinal plants. And the

rich indigenous knowledge, held by

Practitioners of traditional medicine, is being

progressively eroded in the absence of a

determined effort to document and preserve it

for posterity.

younger generation does not see or are not

interested in harvesting of Medicinal plants

or any of the NTFPs as a means to generate

or supplement ones income

Lack of Indigenous knowledge on

identification, collection/extraction and

processing of Medicinal plants to their utility

effects,

Lacking initiatives for the Promotion of

alternative village incomes linked to

maintaining the integrity of reserves.

Opportunities:

Highly advanced science and Technological

Threats:

Despite the increasing use of medicinal

Page 38 of 50

development has led to vast array of

neutraceutical and dermaceutical industries in

the Districts, Region, National and

International.

High Market demand for a vast diversity of

herbal ingredients, major proportion of which

is derived from wild, provide the resource

base to the herbal based pharmaceutical

industry.

Proposed Joint forest management initiatives

and the community involvement in

monitoring use and status of medicinal plants

can contribute to effective strategies for their

sustainable use.

Availability of amble fertile land resources

for efficient use through new systems of

organic farming and home gardening.

plants, their future, seemingly, is being

threatened by complacency concerning their

conservation.

Agricultural encroachments

Climate change

Conclusions

Major factor impeding the development of the medicinal plant based activities in the area of NFR has

been the lack of information on the social and economic benefits that could be derived from the

industrial utilization of NTFPs specific to medicinal plants. Except for the use of these plants for local

health care needs, not much information has been available on their market potential and trading

possibilities to earn income. As a result, the real potential of these plants has not been exploited by the

people of the NFR area.

Recommendations

Factors Potential Intervention

Technical collaboration -

Linkages with Siddha Ayur

Faculty of Jaffna

1. Reactivation of the prior understandings and mutual verbal

agreements with University of Siddha Ayur Medicine Faculty,

Jaffna.

2. Getting written approval from the secretary Northern Province,

Department of Indigenous medicine, for the sanction of

University staff to offer the Technical support services.

Identification and zonation of

medicinal plants in the NFR

and Establishing Medicinal

Plant Conservation Areas.

Develop the Terms of reference with Siddha faculty for the

assessment of the medicinal plants in the NFR.

Render support for the research study with the coordination of

DOF and the participation of forest user groups.

Establish medicinal plants conservation areas

Trainings and capacity building to the organized village FUGs

for the Improvement of the technical capacity to conserve

plants.

Collections and Preservation of indigenous information on

medicinal plants, improved information on factors that affect

the supply of medicinal plants.

Compilation of data and information and documenting,

Page 39 of 50

developing hand books, manuals, dictionary of Medicinal plants

in user friendly manner in the native form for the Forest User

Groups to ensure practical action.

Establishing medicinal

plants organic gardens in

the NFR area.

Taking up the measures to obtain the official permission from

the Provincial head and District Authorities of Indigenous

medicine to institutionalize the joint action plans for the

establishment of an herbal garden in the land allotted for the

said purpose in Nainamadu, Pradesha Saba Ayur Dispensary

compound.

Replicate the success of the pilot project of Jaffna districts on

the cultivation of Aswagantha. ( case study of page 31)

Motivate the low income group relying on agriculture wage

labours to get involved in cultivation of medicinal plants.

Agronomic research on selected plant species to be get geared,

extension and establishing nurseries and commercial

plantations.

Demonstration of opportunities for increased choices for better

livelihood, as well as demonstrating greater efficiency and

innovation in production of traditional medicine,

Marketing of medicinal plant

products.

Get Registered with Sri Lanka Ayur Drugs Corporation for the

supply of medicinal plant products, bee honey, and fruit

products such as fruit syrup (palu), dried amla (nelli) and lime.

Negotiate with Ms. Rasiah Pharmaceuticals of Vavuniya whole

sellers and distributors who are ready to distribute the medicinal

plant products.

4.4 Inland Fishing As the major source of protein in Sri Lanka, fresh inland fresh water fish plays a vital role in meeting

the population's basic nutritional and livelihood needs. Moreover, there is a growing demand for fresh

water fish in both rural and urban markets, and also significant opportunities for the sale of freshwater

fish and aquatic products beyond traditional local markets.

Within the area of NFR there are nearly 60 inland water bodies endowed with good number of fish

species endemic and exotic which are potentially rich source of food and nutrition at low cost and

having income generating potential to the poor rural households of the areas who deprived land and

irrigation water for agriculture. Nearly 20 families from two villages of the study area are involved in

inland fishing. Their monthly average income by sales after their household consumption is recorded

in the study.

Average day fish catch of an individual’s 10 kgs/day, selling rate is fixed by their society as Rs

120/=/kg, Rs 15/= per every Kg is retained by the society, accrues as a trust fund for the welfare of

fishers and a savings for future development of the society. As an average number of days of catching

of fish in a month ranges 15 – 20 days. Monthly average income is 15750; ecological limitation of

water limits the catching of fish for 5-6 months in an annual season, and these impacts the annual

income of the fisher family to Rs 78,750.00.

Fish production in the non-perennial reservoirs and seasonal tanks is dependent upon stocking with

hatchery-produced fingerlings of freshwater fish like tilapia, Chinese and Indian carps. The perennial

tanks and seasonal tanks of Nedunkerny Division are stocked with fingerlings 90000 and 105000

Page 40 of 50

respectivelly of These fish feed exclusively on the natural productivity of these reservoirs. Its

common aquaculture practice in Sri Lanka tanks are stocked with tilapia (Oreochromus mossambicus,

Oreochromus niloticus); Chinese carps (silver carp - Hypophthalmichthys molitrix); bighead carp

(Aristichthys nobilis); grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella); Indian carps (Catla catla); rohu (Labeo

rohita); and mrigal (Cirrhinus mrigla) which are caught year round by fishers in small non-motorized

boats.

Inland Fish species stocked in the seasonal tanks of the area Pictures by: NAQDA

Marketing

Most aquaculture fish produced in the area is also consumed there within the region. These fish

harvested in tanks and reservoirs are sold locally or transported to nearby by Markets in Nedunkerny,

Kanakarayankulam and Vavuniya district. Although ice is the recommended method of keeping the

fish fresh, in Sri Lanka consumers regard iced freshwater fish either cultured or caught from the wild

with suspicion because they fear that ice is used to disguise the fact that the fish is not fresh.

Most consumers prefer to buy fish at ambient temperature. This results in significant waste and loss of

value due to spoilage. Inland fishers do not use ice or other cold storage techniques, but have little

trouble selling the fish without ice. Lack of affordable ice or cold storage facilities in the Vavuniya

District has prevented the option of transporting fish and seafood products to other Districts of South.

Table 10: Frequency (%) of respondents (n = 5) among inland fishermen and vendors indicating

rank of a particular constraint in marketing of inland fish

Constraint Frequency (%)

01 Cultural rigidity (prestige) in the consumption of fresh water fish 60%

02 Consumer Attitudes and behaviors – discarding of oversize carp, owing

to their purchasing power, bicycle vendors often unwilling to portion due

to fear of rapid spoilage.

35%

03 Low market demand in the area closer to the landing side – consumers

found opportunities to have their own consumption requirements by their

75%

Indian Catla

Common Carp

Rohu

Big head carp

Page 41 of 50

own fishing mode

04 Transport to urban and peri urban markets 95%

There are not much constraint are raised as impeding the marketing, few are, 1) cultural rigidity in

attitudes and behavior of consumption of fresh water fish (persisting) in few pockets, 2) consumer

attitudes, preferences discarding the Carp species owing to their oversize, too oily and messy, 3)

transport to the urban or peri - urban markets, 4) low demand in their near surroundings of the landing

side. 5) Nearly 80% of the HHs living near the water bodies found the viability to catch the fish for

their own consumptions by environmentally appropriate techniques, own consumption fishing

restricted to the HHs they can’t go beyond 2 kgs/HHs, use of small piece of throw net, rods and

hooks, cages etc, (any of the usages of commercial

gears is banned) its highly appreciable that the house

hold protein requirement (nutrition) is secured by this

type of local cultural norms,

A highly equitable marketing system has evolved

based, around large numbers of small-scale actors in an

artisanal gill-net fishery and networks of ‘2-wheeler

(bicycle and motorbike) vendors’ who transport a fresh,

low cost product on a door to door basis to even the

remotest villages with negligible wastage.

Villagers fishing for their day consumption Picture By: ICUN

Mutually beneficial trading relationships exist between producers and vendors often on a one-on-one

basis with both receiving fair margins. The fishers/producers selling price in the land is restricted Rs

120/= Rs 15/= for each kg of fish, will be retained by the society. The fish vendors selling price to the

consumers also restricted to Rs 200/= from vendors Rs 5/= for each kg of is levied by the society.

Selling price is stabilized by the society’s constitutions, there is no any negative reflection shown by

the actors, there is no any price fluctuation under any circumstances whether the range of the size of

the fish or on a quality concern the species. The low overheads required for entry, particularly into

the 2-wheeler networks, means the profession represents an ideal opportunity for income

diversification, thereby reducing the vulnerability of poor households. Many traditional cultivators

now participate in fishing or fish marketing on a full-time or seasonal basis.

As indicated above, much of the inland fish production within our study areas was distributed on a

highly local basis by 2-wheeler vendors. Very little in the way of cold facilities are available, and

generally stock must be sold and consumed on the day of catch. The durability and good handling

characteristics of tilapia, the principal species marketed, are eminently suited to this distribution

system.

By contrast larger exotic carps, often upwards of 5kg may need to be butchered for retail to a number

of individual consumers in which state they are much more perishable. For this reason and their

relatively high cost they are less likely to enter the mobile markets. Instead they are sold mainly from

roadside or junction selling points to more affluent consumers in rural market towns.

Page 42 of 50

Chart 11: Inland Fish Supply Chain (Existing)

Institutional arrangements

There is no any grass root level group among village level fish folk is not organized. A single

Divisional level Cooperative Society is Vavuniya North Inland Fishermen Coop Society (VNIFCS)

organized with the registered office functioning in Kanakarayankulam empowered by constitutions to

safeguard the betterments of the fisher folk, governed by a publically elected board of governance. A

General Manager is appointed by the board to look after the day to day Managements, linkages and

network with various stake holders.

Government Support

The National Aquaculture Development Authority (NAQDA)

It is the main state sponsored organization mandated for the development of the aquaculture and

inland fisheries sector in Sri Lanka. District Level Sector office is functioning at the District

secretariat complex Vavuniya, positioned with a very young energetic Coordinating Officer and

supporting staff with the mandates.

Develop aquaculture and aquaculture operations, with a view to increase fish production and fish

consumption in the District.

Promote the creation of employment opportunities through the development of inland and coastal

aquaculture

Promote the farming of high valued fish species including ornamental fish for export

Facilitate optimum utilization of aquatic resources through eco- friendly aquaculture practices

Promote and establish small, medium and large scale private sector investments in aquaculture

Conserve and rehabilitate aquatic resources devastated by poor aquaculture practice.

Vendors

Retained by the society

society

Fishers

Consumers

Rs 120/=

Rs 15/=

Rs 105/=

Rs 200/= Rs 05/= Retained by the society

society

Fishers

Consumers

Rs 120/=

Rs 15/=

Rs 105/=

Rs 200/= Rs 05/= Retained by the society

society

Rs 195/=

Page 43 of 50

Development and way forward of Inland Fishery in the Nedunkerny Division

In the consultation with GM of the VNIFCS and the District Coordinator of NAQDA, were able grasp

the past accomplishments and future plans, the conceptual approaches for the development of the

Inland Fishery.

There are 80 active fishermen in the Vavuniya North Division 9% of the District fishermen

population.

2.6 % of the families deprived of sustainable livelihoods opportunities in the district, received

assistances as kinds fishing boats and nets engaged in inland fishing.

12 % of the inland water resources are exploited for the fishing.

More than 100 house hold heads of the study areas, those are not having sustainable livelihoods

opportunity are willing to get enrolled in the society to get fishing boats and nets to recover their

livelihoods by inland fishing in the inland water bodies of the living surroundings.

NAQDA office is exploring possibilities to find finance resources to support the poor families

deprived of land and water for cultivation of paddy, deserving the assistance to recover their

livelihoods needs.

Community based Inland Fishery Enterprise Development

SWOT - Analysis

Strengths:

The inland fishing has gained a rapid

progress in the Northern Province after

vanquishing of war from the province.

The Government numerous Development

initiatives. Stockings of exotic species in the

seasonal tanks for sustainable harvesting

increase the marketability of the fish.

Joint initiatives of State sectors Irrigation,

Agriculture extension, International water

management institute for the Effective Water

Management strategies.

This industry is being promoted as a

significant income avenue for resettled

families in the North and as the best source

for alleviating malnutrition in the country.

With the increase in the price of ocean fish,

the Sri Lankan government is investing in the

inland fisheries industry to create a good

demand for Sri Lankan inland fish in the

National and International markets.

Low investments low technology. less

competition.

NFR is blessed with extensive freshwater and

brackish water resources, which are

potentially a rich source for fishing for rural

populations.

The availability of suitable, affordable land

Weakness:

Recently started in the introductory level

with low chain linkages.

There is no grass root level organizational

structure for grass root level initiatives.

No proper Data and information

Very few numbers of fishermen had the

opportunity for capacity building.

Page 44 of 50

and brackish water is a big advantage that

will most likely outweigh other constraints to

aquaculture development.

Many of the non-perennial reservoirs in the

NFR area are highly productive, hatchery-

reared fish fingerlings of exotic species can

be stocked to develop culture-based fisheries

during the water retention period of 7–9

months.

There is a growing demand for fish in both

rural and urban markets, and also significant

opportunities for the sale of freshwater fish

and aquatic products beyond traditional local

markets.

Inland fishing provides a cheap source of

protein for the rural poor.

As the population increases, demand for the

fish increases.

Opportunities:

Inland fish acts as a substitute during the lean

periods of marine fish during June to

September. When annual supplies are at their

lowest level due to the seasonal winds which

follow the SW monsoon. At the same time

tilapia availability peaks as reservoir water

levels retreat during the dry season, yet

tilapia prices rise slightly in urban areas

whilst falling elsewhere.

A low input culture based insitu production

system accessible to marginal rural

communities of the dry zone, to move away

from simple production orientation and

become progressively more market oriented

as fish culture farming effort is

institutionalized.

NAQDA is with a wider net work and

linkages with the organizations for the

capacity development, trainings, product

development, value addition and marketing

promotion.

More than 20% 0f the populations of the

NFR area are of non agricultural land holders

remains without sustainable income earnings

are visioning that the inland fishing will be

the alternate viable option for their

sustainable livelihoods.

Growing market demand for the value added

fresh water fishes.

Production of most common aquaculture fish

species should be profitable even at local

Threats:

Over exploitation , limitation of extent 6acre

/fishermen, with the complacency if it

exceeds the limitations will put under

pressure, erosion, damages to the structure

etc,

Conflict between farmers and fishermen, not

been viewed on fisheries development

perspectives Vs Agriculture Development

perspectives, its always felt by the farmers

relying on the tank water for their crops that

inland fishing is a nuisance for them, “tank

water meant for paddy” and our ownership.

Page 45 of 50

market prices. Existing aquaculture

operations (mainly tilapia and carp) have

demonstrated an ability to compete in local

markets with marine-caught fish.

Low technological input, low cost packages

and HR development capacity, business

development support services are available

with NARA and Department of Fisheries.

Conclusions

Aquaculture products (pond raised fish) are selling successfully in the local markets of the study

areas, demonstrating that they have entered the fish supply chain and that they can compete both

with marine-caught fish and imported fish. Even small scale aquaculture operations can provide a

reliable source of supplemental food or income for local farmers and fishers in rural areas. In the

right locations, aquaculture can also be an employment opportunity for persons without land or

displaced by conflict, deprived out of land for the cultivation of paddy and to enjoy the rights for

irrigation water.

In Sri Lanka, aquaculture development complements capture fisheries in that the facilities built

and operated to support the marine fisheries sector (ice, cold storage, and refrigerated transport)

can also be used to process and market tilapia, shrimp, or other fish cultured in ponds, cages and

pens.

Inland fishery with many aspects of production, processing, viabilities of value addition and

marketing prospects are seen very sound.

Conflict between farmers and the fishermen is the issue to be resolved by organizing dialog forum

to bring both parties for negotiated settlements under the leader ship of Department of Agriculture

development and National Aquatic Development Authority (NAQDA).

Recommendations


1


producer groups

1. Discussions with NAQDA and VNIFCS on constitution

aspects to organize village level producer groups.


3. Targeting: Identification of most vulnerable deserves


Priority must be given for the HHs exists in the NTFPs.



Economically active age group of 19 – 37, exploring job

opportunities 27% most of the young adult women with

basic educational backgrounds.




3

Trainings and capacity

buildings

Training needs assessments.

Investigations on Willingness and dedications, area of



Page 46 of 50

4




providers.

NARA, Fisheries extension officers Ceylon Fisheries

Corporation, for the trainings on science and technology on

fish cleaning, filleting, drying, smoking, quality assurance

and packaging.

Chamber of commerce for business promotion, marketing,

finance management.

5


centers.

With the technical guidance of NAQDA, find the suitable

location with the uninterrupted running water source for the

housing of the processing unit, and obtaining the basic

approvals of PHI, environmental authorities.


weighing machine, equipments and containers quality

control equipments and storage space, sanitation appliances

etc.

Designing and construction of smoking kiln

6

Organizational structure Decide on the governance of the collection center and the

processing unit



Organizing the procurements of fish, staff is to be well

trained in the determination of price billing and payments

system according to the quality and quantity parameters.

7

Pre processing Staffs dealing in the processing are to be trained in HACCP


processing.

8

Transport and logistics To ensure availability of raw material in right time, the right

quantity and the right quality, Inbound transport system

linking the fish landing sites to collection centers and to the

processing unit must be there,

During the transport of fish products and commodities high

sanitary practices to be maintained. Lidded containers of

food grade should be utilized.

9

Packaging Aseptic food grade packaging materials to be utilized.


designed and printed, the package itself to sell the product.



maintained during procurement and treatment of fish and the

consequent processing operation and ultimately how the

end product is sealed in the sterile condition and steps taken

to prolong the keeping quality.

10







Page 47 of 50

11




with Cargill’s Food City super market chain. Final terms to


basis.

The proposed price spread of bee honey (Page 53) is worked

out with the standard marketing system of Cargill’s. The

commission will be of 25- 30%

NAQDA will take the lead role to link with Ceylon Fisheries

Corporations Marketing chain and with the Colombo based

whole sellers supply chains.

Product diversification, Value addition

The findings from the interviews with the fish producers and vendors, marketing officers indicates

there is a high retail value exists for dried and smoked species, particularly snakehead and tilapia

combined with good demand identified both in rural and urban areas suggests there is an unexploited

niche market for such products. Due to the prolonged ethnic conflict in the North, population levels

are lower, transport infrastructure neglected and the movement of goods severely restricted. Greater

proportion of production from perennial fisheries in these areas is therefore exported in the dried

form. This reflects in the availability of dried varieties at weekly markets and boutiques in the urban

markets, a kg of dried fish is sold at 850 – 1000.00, most of which emanated from this source.

The Inland fish supply chain prevail is with few actors shrunken within a rural market chain. There

are many potentials resources to get the supply chain more extended by involving more actors along

the chain for more share of economic beneficial. Although this shows some potential for development

of a market for inland fish in urban areas, benefits of such diversification would bypass most of the

existing small scale market network above producer level.

The alternate Fish value chain is aimed to increase the participation of women in the inland fish

entrepreneurship. Women’s to be organized into groups, empowering through solidarity among

women and trained in improved techniques in processing, with an aim to increase the productivity ,

income and working condition of the women. The entire market chain of inland fish is more

dominated by male actors. Only the preparation and retailing of small dried “trash” species currently

offer significant potential for women’s independent participation within the inland area under study.

Here social taboos still present a formidable barrier; most of the participants interviewed being single

or widowed women, (587 war widows in the Vavuniya North Division out of this high percentage of

27% 158 widows living in the study area of 8 GNDs) , from landless families participate in wider

range of fisheries related activities.

As in many Asian cultures, fishing and its related activities are perceived as low cast activities and it

is often described as pity work by number of the upper (majority) farmer cast. However as second

generation problems associated with irrigation developments have progressively reduced access to

productive agricultural land, increasing number of younger participants from the farming cast have

become involved in all levels of the marketing network to supplement their agricultural income.

Page 48 of 50

Table 12: Improved Inland Fish Value Chain

4.5 Eco tourism development in the NFR area

Nature Tourism

The recent Bio Diversity survey of Nainamadu Forest Reserve by the ICUN enlightens its potential

for the development of Nature based tourism, and conservation of forest through the engagement of

local communities also recognized. All together 322 floral and 322 faunal species were recorded in

the study , including 13 land snail species, two fresh water crab species, 16 dragon fly species, 53

butterfly species, 23 fresh water species, 13 amphibian species , 33 reptile species, 125 bird species

and 44 mammal species .

These are treasure of Nainamadu Forest Reserve (NFR) and natural attractions for an area to become

as a strong base of tourist attraction examples includes jungle safari, bird watching, camping, hunting,

hiking, and fishing. In today’s world of the tourism development, experiential tourists are interested in

a diversity of natural and cultural resources. They want what is real, and they want to be immersed in

a rich natural, cultural, or historical experience.

From the stand point of conservation, nature based tourism provides better avenues for the uplifting of

the communities by economically and to conserve wild life habitats upon which the industry depends-

Rs 15/= Retained by the society

By contrast to most fresh fish transaction, processing losses

incurred during the production of dried and smoked fish

must be borne by the producer and passed on to the

consumer in the product price. Losses associated with

drying /curing ranged from 32.9 – 38.9. (F.J.Murray,

I.S.Koddithuwakku. D.C.Little. 1999

Fishers

Vendors

Collection Center

Processing center

Consumers

Retail House

Consumers

Rs 105/=

Rs 120/=

Rs 200/=

Rs 195/=

Rs 05/= Retained by the society

Rs 145/=

Rs 650/= per I kg

of dried fish

Rs 850/=

Rs 120/=

Fresh Fish

Page 49 of 50

it promotes conservation by placing an increased value and remaining natural areas. As nature tourism

become more important to the local economy.

NFR area is agriculture centered relying for its irrigation on many of the artificial irrigation tanks and

the terraces and tracks of paddy fields with wider distribution of water stream systems consists of

greeneries are of very attractable, panoramic view all over attracting the nature lovers. The normal

harvest season of the grains grown in the area, many of the tasty fruits harvesting coincide with the

tourist season making the tourist sector more attractive.

The farmer community to be motivated to open up road side fruit stall to display their harvest nicely

on an attractive manner to attract the recreational travelers either as the setting for activities or where

the land or resources are themselves the central component of the tourist activity. Community based

products such as vegetables, fruits, bee honey, yoghurts, curd, treacle have great market potentials if

the production is properly organized . A growing number of tourists prefer natural products to

chemically processed products. It’s not difficult to promote chemical free farms close to tourist

villages, producers are rewarded with fair dividends.

NFR is with immense potential for adventure tourism, the honey hunting of the NFR is a warranted

potential to welcome the adventure tourists, despite the risks involves the honey hunters of NFR go

about their business with the air of dark humour that is so often the main stay of the camaraderie of

those working in dangerous circumstances can escort the tourists loves the adventure. The honey

hunting is always with the realities of conflict with wild animals, their track within the forest conflicts

with corridors of elephant and sloth bears.

The areas infected with elephants and sloth bears are enlightened by the ICUN study. These areas

could be very potential to organize wild life safari.

For the promotion of nature tourism in NFR, the following initiatives, among others, need to be

emphasized.

Travel and tour market promotion; Printing of attractive posters, brochures to visualize the

landscape of the NFR and its potential biodiversity, cultural shows and pageants portraying local

identity.

Establish linkages with the Sri Lankan tourist development port folios.

Attractive package developments with the support of merchandizing experts, promotion agencies

of prominent tourist and travel agencies.

Infrastructure facilities development, Low cost infrastructure facilities, accommodation with

traditional local flavor, camps, tree top huts, promotion of old model of transport bullock carts,

elephant and horse riding

Ornamentals and Handicrafts from the wild plant species as tourist’s attraction

The village farmers can be encouraged to cultivate different species of gourds in their farm lands, the

hard shells of the plants can be carved as very decorative ornamental containers and utilities. The

seeds can be collected from the jungles, and available in the agro inputs sales out lets, easily grown in

the farm lands without much inputs ,could be trained to climb in the

fences vertically. The young adults to be motivated and trained to

Page 50 of 50

come out with different aesthetic sense to polish,

paint, carve with decorative designs to attract the

travelers and the tourists.

Ornamentals made out of forest resources (NTFPs

Uganda)

Many of the colorful and bright beads can be

collected in the jungles; very attractive jewellery and

ornamentals could be made out of these, as pass time

handicraft for women to make some income.

Pictures from an African NTFPs

project samples of jewelry made

with jungle beads

Carved Gourds

Documents

NTFP Final Report 15 June 2013