- Email: [email protected]
Firewood consumption pattern of different tribal communities in Northeast India
ARTICLE IN PRESS
Energy Policy 32 (2004) 1–6
Firewood consumption pattern of different tribal communities in Northeast India B.P. Bhatt*, M.S. Sachan Agroforestry Division, ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region, Umroi Road, Umiam 793 103, Meghalaya, India
Abstract Excessive use of firewood, as a primary source of energy for domestic purposes, is leading to severe deforestation in the northeastern Himalayan region. Firewood consumption pattern of three tribal communities of Meghalaya, India- Garo, Khasi and Jaintia was studied under varying ecological, socio-economic and socio-cultural conditions. Fuelwood consumption was highest to Khasi community (5.81 kg/capita/day), followed by the Garo (5.32 kg/capita/day) and Jaintia (3.90 kg/capita/day), respectively, irrespective of their socio-economic status. The labour energy expenditure for fuelwood collection was highest for the Jaintia (88.56 MJ/capita/yr) and minimum to Garo (70.64 MJ/capita/yr). The fuelwood is burnt for various activities such as cooking, water heating, space heating, lighting and livestock rearing, etc. Among various activities, cooking required maximum energy. Commercial fuel is beyond the reach of the tribal communities due to their poor socio-economic conditions. The estimated growing stock is unable to sustain the rate of fuel consumption. This information could be utilized for developing appropriate technology for afforestation programes in this region since 90% of the total population use biomass as an important source of energy. r 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Firewood; Tribal communities; NEH region; Deforestation; Meghalaya; India
1. Introduction Fuelwood has been identified as one of the most significant causes of forest decline in many developing countries. According to one estimate, firewood accounts for over 54% of all global harvests per annum, suggesting a significant and direct role of woodfuel in forest loss (Osei, 1993). India’s 87% cooking energy demand is met from noncommercial fuels and the demand for fuelwood has grown far faster than the supply (Anonymous, 1985). On average, about half of all energy (commercial and biomass) consumed is used for cooking food, which is nearly double the energy (fossil fuel and electricity) use by agriculture and industrial sector combined together (Anonymous, 1982; Hall et al., 1982). Tribal communities of northeastern Himalayan (NEH) region heavily rely on forest resources for their subsistence and 90% population of the region use biomass as an important source of energy (Bhatt et al., 2001). Shifting cultivation coupled with excessive *Corresponding author. Tel.: +91-364-570301; fax: +91-364570257. E-mail address: [email protected] (B.P. Bhatt).
deforestation for firewood has brought more than 50% area of the NEH states, e.g., Nagaland, Manipur and Sikkim under wastelands. In Meghalaya alone, 44.2% of the total geographical area is under wastelands (Anonymous, 2000a). Due to dwindling forest resources and prevailing environmental laws without provision of alternative sources of energy, the very existence of the local folk is being threatened. Although fuelwood is the only source of energy, nevertheless there is dearth of basic information about rural energy supply and consumption pattern, and its impact on forest resource. At the same time, energy planners overlook this most essential energy use and planning priorities are usually met in favour of the industrial and agricultural sector’s commercial energy demand rather than for cooking. Therefore, the present study has following objectives: (a) To estimate the quantities of fuelwood consumption by the household sector of different tribal communities of Meghalaya under varying ecological, socio-economic and socio-cultural conditions. (b) To collect information on the tree species, being preferred and used by traditional societies.
0301-4215/04/$ - see front matter r 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 3 0 1 - 4 2 1 5 ( 0 2 ) 0 0 2 3 7 - 9
ARTICLE IN PRESS 2
B.P. Bhatt, M.S. Sachan / Energy Policy 32 (2004) 1–6
(c) To evaluate the influence of climate, season, festival celebration and family size on fuelwood consumption. (d) To estimate the labour energy spent on fuelwood collection. (e) Status of the forest resource in the region.
2. Study area and climate The study covers a geographical area of 22,429 km2 and situated in tropical to temperate zone. The region is characterized by undulating topography, wide variations in altitude, rainfall, temperature and soil conditions. The climate is typically monsoonic, with about 85% of the total annual rainfall occurring during the rainy season. The average maximum temperature during the rainy season is 301C and average minimum temperature 141C, with a maximum and minimum of 201C and 81C, respectively, during the winters. Garo, Khasi and Jaintia tribal communities are inhabited in the study area. The total population of the state is 23,06,069 (11,67,840 male and 11,38,229 females) according to provisional census 2001. Population growth of the state has increased 6.76 fold in the last 100 years (Anonymous, 2000b). Livestock population in the state is 1.18 million as per 1992 livestock census. Slash and burn agriculture (locally known as jhum), as well as, valley cultivation is the mainstay of economy of the rural folk. Rainfed agriculture occupies 65% of the total cultivated area. Till 3 decades ago, jhum cultivation was not alarming as its cycle was 20–30 years but of late it has been reduced to 3–5 years partly owing to population explosion and partly to loss of fertile soil due to over exploitation of forest resource (Ramakrishnan, 1987). Summer crops are mainly cultivated, however, at the places where irrigation facilities are available, winter cropping is also practiced. Rice is a staple crop of the region, occupying 72% of the total cultivated area, followed by maize and pulses. Other crops include ginger, colocasia, turmeric and sweet potato in jhum fields (Anonymous, 2000b).
3. Data collection The study was carried out during March 2001 to February 2002 starting with a preliminary survey in the villages of different communities to count the number of families and members in each household. The economic status was determined in terms of land holdings, animal owned, type of employment, and total income. The families were then broadly classified into two categories, i.e., above and below the poverty line. A minimum of 15
families of each socio-economic class at each community was used for the fuelwood consumption study. The quantity of fuelwood consumption was measured over a period of 24 h using a weight survey method (Mitchell, 1979; Bhatt et al., 1994). Quantification of fuelwood use was made for the main tasks of cooking, lighting, space heating and miscellaneous uses. Each sampled household was visited round the year to record the firewood consumption. Initially, a wood lot was weighted and left in the kitchen and the household was requested to burn wood only from this bundle. After 24 h, the actual fuelwood consumption was measured. Based on the work of Mitchell (1979), the energy value for 1 kg of fuelwood was taken to be 16.80 MJ/kg. The time and type of labour spent for fuelwood collection was then converted to MJ (Gopalan et al., 1978). Total fuel energy consumed was apportioned to each activity (Leach, 1976). We used 0.418 for sedentary, 0.488 for moderate and 0.679 for heavy work for an adult male, respectively, and 0.331, 0.383 and 0.523 MJ/h for an adult female. For heavy work by children 9–12 yr of age, we used 0.412 MJ/h. The overall evaluation of firewood species was calculated as the sum of the ranks obtained by each fuelwood species for each group of attributes divided by sum of ranks obtained by all the species. For each attribute, the top species was assigned the highest rank of 34. Hence, a higher overall rank sum index (ORSI) corresponded to a better-rated species (Simonne et al., 1999).
4. Results Per capita firewood consumption of different tribal communities exhibited that Khasi required highest (5.81 kg/capita/day) and Jaintia lowest (3.90 kg/capita/ day) firewood, irrespective of their socio-economic conditions (Table 1). On average, there is 32% more biomass consumption by Khasi community than Jaintia. No much difference was recorded in biomass consumption according to socio-economic conditions of the different tribal communities. Nevertheless, below the poverty line, biomass consumption increased by 14%, irrespective of communities. All inhabitants use biomass for fuel. Commercial fuels like LPG, kerosene, electricity, coal, etc accounted only to 1.2–9.3% and are mainly consumed by economically well-off households. The tribal communities walk 1.5– 2.0 km in search of firewood collection. Collection of firewood is the main outdoor occupation of the women and children. Men rarely perform this task, only in exigencies. Collection is generally carried out in the morning and evening hours. A single load of fuel bundle may vary from 25–30 kg in case of women and 10–15 kg in case of children. Collection is intensified during
ARTICLE IN PRESS B.P. Bhatt, M.S. Sachan / Energy Policy 32 (2004) 1–6
3
Table 1 Firewood consumption (kg/capita/day7SD) by different tribal communities of Meghalaya in Northeast India Tribal communities
Firewood consumption Income above poverty line
Jaintia Khasi Garo Average
Income below poverty line
Summer
Winter
Summer
Winter
2.4170.8 4.3171.1 3.7470.4 3.48
4.5672.0 6.5472.3 6.2570.7 5.78
3.0071.3 5.0971.4 4.1271.1 4.07
5.6272.5 7.2870.9 7.1871.5 6.69
Table 2 Labour energy expenditure (MJ/capita-year7SD) for collection of fuelwood by different tribal communities according to their socio-economic groups Jaintia
Consumer
Male Female Child Total d km
Khasi
Garo
I+
I
I+
I
I+
I
23.2871.14 40.1972.11 15.7270.54 79.19 2.00
28.7971.52 49.7072.23 19.4470.82 97.93 1.50
23.3071.21 41.7071.34 16.3270.68 81.32 1.50
27.5471.16 47.5571.82 18.6070.96 93.69
2.2472.10 38.4171.54 15.0270.13 55.67
25.1671.71 43.4472.03 17.0071.14 85.60
I += income above the poverty line, I = income below the poverty line, d = average distance of forests from villages.
Table 3 Fuelwood energy consumption (MJ 103/capita/yr7SD) among different socio- economic households of tribal communities Jaintia
Application I Cooking including food for livestock Lighting Space heating Boiling of water, etc Other miscellaneous uses Total energy required
+
10.7072.8 — 3.2171.3 2.1471.3 5.3473.0 21.37
Khasi I
13.2273.0 1.5970.8 3.9671.6 3.1773.4 4.4972.1 26.43
winter to build up the stock for the ensuing rainy season. Firewood is stored in separate enclosures built along the side of the house or in space between the ground and the raised platform of the house since the houses are built about 2 feet above the ground level resting on wooden poles. On average, maximum labour energy for firewood collection is expended by Jaintia (88.56 MJ/capita/yr), followed by Khasi (87.51 MJ/capita/yr), irrespective of their socio-economic structure (Table 2). Total energy consumption for the various categories showed that cooking consumed most of the energy (about 50% of total consumption) among all the tribal communities. Boiling of water ranks after cooking in fuelwood energy consumption. Irrespective of socioeconomic status of the tribal communities, space heating
I
+
16.6572.4 — 5.0071.5 3.3372.8 9.9971.1 34.96
Garo I
18.9771.7 2.2870.4 5.6971.4 4.5574.0 6.4573.3 37.93
I
þ
15.3171.1 — 4.5971.0 3.0674.7 5.2172.2 28.18
I 17.3274.2 2.0871.2 5.2072.0 4.1673.7 5.8971.7 34.65
also needs a greater amount of fuelwood. On average, fuelwood energy consumption was higher for Khasi (36.45 MJ 103/capita/yr), followed by Garo (31.42 MJ 103/capita/yr) (Table 3). Schima spp., Pinus kesiya, Mesua ferrea, Macaranga denticulata, Garcinia spp., Duabanga indica and Aesculus assamica have been found suitable firewood species based on overall rank sum index, which were assessed on the basis of fuelwood production, characteristics of firewood and availability. But the procurement of preferred species is becoming increasingly difficult. Thus, all kinds of woods are used as firewood, which include the inferior shrubs and trees besides bamboo species, which occupy 26.0% of the total forest cover (Table 4).
ARTICLE IN PRESS B.P. Bhatt, M.S. Sachan / Energy Policy 32 (2004) 1–6
4 Table 4 Popular firewood species in the region Species
ORSIa
Tribal communities
b
Acer oblongum Aesculus assamicab Artocarpus integrifoliab Bambusa cacharensis B. nutans B. pallida B. balcooa Betula sppb Castonopsis indicab Chuckrasia tabularisb Cryptomeria japonica Dendrocalamus hamiltonii Dipterocarpus macrocarpusb Duabanga indicab Garcinia paniculatab G. pedunculata Gmelina arboreab Lagerstroemia citrata L. speciosa Macaranga denticulatab Melocanna baccifera Michelia champacab M. oblongab Mesua ferreab Myrica esculentab Pinus kesiya Prunus cerasoidesb P. undulatab Schima khasiana S. wallichiib Shorea assamicab Simingtonia populneab Terminalia belliricab T. myriocarpab
Jaintia
Khasi
Garo
No No No Yes No Yes No No No Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No Yes
Yes Yes No No No Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes
No No Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes No Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
0.023 0.035 0.032 0.016 0.015 0.015 0.016 0.031 0.033 0.030 0.020 0.017 0.033 0.034 0.035 0.040 0.029 0.026 0.028 0.038 0.022 0.034 0.033 0.039 0.024 0.039 0.029 0.030 0.039 0.040 0.031 0.033 0.033 0.034
a
ORSI represents Over-all rank sum index based on firewood production, characteristics and availability (Source: Simonne et al., 1999). Excellent woodfuel; Yes—popular firewood in the area and/or regularly purchased; No—not popular, may not be found in the area (Source: field data). b
5. Discussion Dependency on forest for fuelwood is causing severe deforestation in the region (Ramakrishnan, 1987). The present study revealed that fuelwood consumption among the three tribal communities ranged from 3.90 to 5.81 kg/capita/day, which seems considerably higher than the value reported for the rural and tribal communities of the western Himalayas (1.49 kg/capita/ day) by Bhatt et al. (1994); for Southern India (1.9– 2.2 kg/capita/day) by Reddy (1981) and Hedge (1984); for South and South-East Asian countries (1.7–2.5 kg/ capita/day) by Donovan (1981) and Wijesinghe (1984), and for Himalayan range of Nepal (1.23 kg/capita/day) by Mahat et al. (1987). Comparatively higher firewood consumption by tribal communities of Arunachal Pradesh (3.1–10.4 kg/capita/day) and Garos (5.0 kg/
capita/day) has already been reported (Maikhuri, 1991; Shankar, 2000), which supports to present findings. The deteriorating status of biomass has important ramifications since rural women have to spend more time, and travel longer distance for collecting fuel, fodder and water, imposing additional burden on them. In the absence of the hardwood, collection of bamboo for fuel is increasing. The share of bamboo in fuel was about 5–10%, particularly to ignite the fire but not to sustain entire cooking. However, it has now gone up to 50% and bamboo has become a substitute for the wood. There are 22 genera and 55 species of bamboo in the study area. Its wide spread cover, easy availability and quick regeneration have facilitated the shift. Nevertheless, the women contend with the problems associated with the bamboo burning such as excessive
ARTICLE IN PRESS B.P. Bhatt, M.S. Sachan / Energy Policy 32 (2004) 1–6
smoke, low sustained heat value and quick burning properties. Despite these problems, bamboos continue to be a major fuel source in the absence of other options (Shankar, 2000; Bhatt and Tomar, 2002). Extensive coal mining has also converted the thousands of hectares of land into new habitats, which lack the soil structure completely and elemental concentrations of the same has greatly altered the areas such as hill tops and hill slopes. Cultivated and abandoned agricultural fields are also affected by deposition of coal particles through wind and seepage water. Currently 157.0, 71.0 and 58.0 km2 area, respectively, of Khasi, Garo and Jaintia hills is under coal mining (Shankar et al., 1993). Another reason for the situation going out of control is that the administrative authority of unclassed forests (89.54% of the total forests) mostly rests with the Autonomous District Councils of Khasi Hills, Garo Hills and Jaintia Hills. Due to poor management of unclassed forests, jhum cultivation is confined mainly in the said forests. Thus reckless felling of green trees is a continuous process. Silviculture practices of the forest department are restricted only to reserve forest or protected forests, which constitutes only 10.33% and 0.13% of the total forests, respectively. On average, Jaintia Hills, West Garo Hills and East Khasi Hills are worst affected due to large-scale deforestation (Anonymous, 1999). On the basis of firewood consumption pattern among three tribal communities, it is need of the hour to seriously consider the problem of deforestation. The recorded forest area is 42.34% of the total geographical area. Dense and open forests constitute 37.9% and 62.1%, respectively, to total forest cover. There has been a decrease of 57 km2 in the forest cover during the assessment year of 1995 and 1997, therefore, the per capita availability of forestland, which was 1.17 ha in 1981 reduced to 0.54 ha in 1995. The area currently affected by shifting cultivation is estimated as 0.11 million ha (Anonymous, 1999). Whereas, for better soil and water conservation the density of tree cover should not be reduced by more than 50% in Himalayan zone of India. According to another estimate, land degradation and soil erosion has brought 49.0% of the geographical area as problematic one (Borthakur, 1992; Anonymous, 2000b). The actual firewood requirement of the region was estimated as 1,37,179.3 and 2,17,233.8 ton/yr, respectively, during 1991 and 2001. Whereas, the total growing stock of forest during 1993 has been reported 104.14 million cubic meters. The timber production, which was recorded 8882 m3 during 1985–1990, has remained 1085 during the assessment year 1992–1993. Similarly the sustained yield of fuelwood, which was 292 ton in 1985– 1990, reduced to 61 ton in 1992–1993 (Maiti and Chakrabarti, 2002). Thus over a period of less than 5
5
years, there was 79.1% decrease in firewood production and 87.8% in timber production, respectively. As far as afforestation schemes are concerned, rural fuelwood plantation, operation soil watch, restoration of coal mining areas and degraded lands have been taken up by various agencies but the actual area planted remained only 0.92% of the total geographical area during last 20 years. The important species included in afforestation are Gmelina arborea, Tectona grandis, Shorea robusta, Pinus kesiya, Albizia lebbek, A. procera, Toona ciliata and Michelia champaca (Anonymous, 1999). Thus it is conspicuous that the pace of afforestation is not to the tune of forest harvest.
6. Conclusions Substantial increase in human and livestock population, lack of land ownership rights, shortening of jhum cycle, bun method of cultivation of hill slopes and hill tops, conversion of forest into plantation for horticultural crops, coal mining, industrial demand causing increased extraction, stray grazing, forest fire and clearance of forest for farmland and urban development has caused severe deforestation besides firewood extraction. Although the apex court of India has imposed a ban on felling of green trees in 1996 but unfortunately the process in the region is still in vogue. The forest based industries like saw mills and veneer mills are also responsible for forest degradation. In the study area alone, there were 242 wood based industries until the banning by the Supreme Court on green felling. Higher fuelwood consumption is mainly due to lack of unconventional energy sources. Extensive farming for firewood could be the only alternative to bridge the gap between the demand and supply. It has also been observed that the firewood consumption also differs according to family size and small families have more firewood consumption than those of medium and large families (personal observations of authors). Cooking, consumes most of the energy because food is also cooked for pigs and other livestock, which are an integral part of farming. The firewood consumption was also influenced by the climate and season of the year. Per capita fuelwood consumption and fuelwood energy consumption is 3-fold higher in the region as compared to northwest Himalayan region (Bhatt et al., 1994). Degraded lands of the region are typically characterized by impoverished or eroded soils, hydrological instability, reduced primary productivity and diminished biological productivity. Hence, a comprehensive forest policy is required in the region so that there would be net addition to a perpetuating stock even after meeting the essential food, fodder and timber requirements of the people, as well as, the growing requirement of commercial exploitation. To achieve this, greater
ARTICLE IN PRESS 6
B.P. Bhatt, M.S. Sachan / Energy Policy 32 (2004) 1–6
coordination between the Govt. machineries, people and voluntary organizations is needed under protective care and supervision. Technologies regarding the use of smokeless chullahs and efficient cooking stoves should be encouraged, which can reduce pressure on forests. To meet out the growing demand of firewood, efforts are needed for mass afforestation through suitable firewood tree species. Species like Aesculus assamica, Artocarpus integrifolia, Castonopsis indica, Chuckrasia tabularis, Dipterocarpus macrocarpus, Duabanga indica, Garcinia spp., Gmelina arborea, Macaranga denticulata, Michelia spp., Mesua ferrea, Myrica esculenta, Prunus spp., Schima spp., Shorea assamica, Simingtonia populnea and Terminalia spp. have been found promising for energy plantation. Qualitative analysis of these firewood species have exhibited ideal firewood properties viz. high calorific value, high wood density, high biomass/ash ratio, low ash and low moisture content (Bhatt and Tomar, 2002; Bhatt and Tomar, communicated).
Acknowledgements Authors are thankful to the Director, ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region, Umiam, Meghalaya, India for providing all necessary facilities to conduct the work, and one anonymous referee for suggesting important modifications in the manuscript. Financial support from Department of Land Resources, Govt. of India is also acknowledged.
References Anonymous, 1982. The state of India’s environment. A Citizen Report. Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi. Anonymous, 1985. Towards a perspective on energy demand and supply in India. Advisory Board on Energy, Govt. of India, New Delhi. Anonymous, 1999. State of Forest Report. Published by Forest Survey of India, Ministry of Environment and Forests, Govt. of India, p.113. Anonymous, 2000a. Wastelands Atlas of India. Published by Ministry of Rural Development, Department of Land Resources, Govt. of India, New Delhi, India, p. 81. Anonymous, 2000b. Basic statistics of North Eastern Region. Published by North Eastern Council, Ministry of Home Affairs, Govt. of India, p. 297. Bhatt, B.P., Negi, A.K., Todaria, N.P., 1994. Fuelwood consumption pattern at different altitudes in garhwal Himalaya. Energy 19 (4), 465–468.
Bhatt, B.P., Singh, R., Misra, L.K., Tomar, J.M.S., Singh, M., Chauhan, D.S., Dhyani, S.K., Singh, K.A., Dhiman, K.R., Datta, M., 2001. Agroforestry research and practices: an overview. In: Verma, N.D., Bhatt, B.P. (Eds.), Steps Towards Modernization of Agriculture in NEH Region. ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region, Umiam Meghalaya, India, pp. 365–392. Bhatt, B.P., Tomar, J.M.S., 2002. Firewod properties of some Indian mountain tree and shrub species. Biomass and Bioenergy 23 (4), 257–260. Borthakur, D.N., 1992. Agriculture of the North East Region with Special Reference to Hill Agriculture. Beecee Prakashan, Guwahati, India, p. 265. Donovan, D.G., 1981. Fuelwood: How Much Do We Need? Institute of Current World Affairs, Hanover, NH, p. 23. Gopalan, G.B., Ramasastri, V., Balasubraminiam, S.C., 1978. Nutritive Value of Indian Foods. National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad, India, p. 204. Hall, D.O., Barnard, G.W., Moss, P.A., 1982. Biomass for Energy in Developing Countries. Pergamon Press, Oxford. Hegde, M.S., 1984. Fuel problem in villages: challenges and opportunities. Bulletin of Science 8, 8–13. Leach, G., 1976. Energy and Food Production. IPC Science and Technology Press, Guilford, London, p. 137. Mahat, T.B.S., Grigffin, D.M., Shepherd, K.P., 1987. Human impact on some forest of the middle hills of Nepal. Part 4: A detailed study in Southeast Sindhu Palanchock and Northeast Kabhere Palanchock. Mountain Research and Development 7, 114–134. Maikhuri, R.K., 1991. Fuelwood consumption pattern of different tribal communities living in Arunachal Pradesh in Northeast India. Bioresource Technology 35, 291–296. Maiti, A.K., Chakrabarti, S., 2002. Depletion of forest—a threat to environment and livelihood: a case study of Northeast India. In: Ray, B.D., Alam, K. (Eds.), Forest Resources in North East India. Omsons Publications, New Delhi, India, pp. 1–12. Mitchell, R., 1979. An Analysis of Indian Agro-ecosystem. Interprint, New Delhi, India, p. 180. Osei, W.Y., 1993. Woodfuel and deforestation—answers for a sustainable environment. Journal of Environmental Management 37, 51–62. Ramakrishnan, P.S., 1987. Energy flow and shifting cultivation. In: Vinod Kumar, T.M., Ahuja, D.R. (Eds.), Rural Energy Planning for the Indian Himalayas. Wiley Eastern, New Delhi, India, pp. 247–276. Reddy, A.K.N., 1981. An Indian village agricultural ecosystem case study of Ungra village. Part II. Discussion. Biomass 1, 77–88. Shankar, U., Boral, L., Pandey, H.N., Tripathi, R.S., 1993. Degradation of land due to coal mining and its natural recovery pattern. Current Science 65, 680–687. Shankar, U., 2000. Increasing biomass scarcity in Northeastern India: options with the villagers. In: Arunachalam, A., Khan, M.L. (Eds.), Sustainable Management of Forests—India. International Book Distributors, Dehradun, India, pp. 278–309. Simonne, E., Simonne, A., Boozer, R., 1999. Yield, ear characteristics and consumer acceptance of selected white sweet corn varieties in the Southern United States. Horticulture Technology 9 (2), 289–293. Wijesinghe, L.C.A.des., 1984. A sample study of biomass fuel consumption in Sri Lanka households. Biomass 5, 261–282.
Energy Policy 32 (2004) 1–6
Firewood consumption pattern of different tribal communities in Northeast India B.P. Bhatt*, M.S. Sachan Agroforestry Division, ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region, Umroi Road, Umiam 793 103, Meghalaya, India
Abstract Excessive use of firewood, as a primary source of energy for domestic purposes, is leading to severe deforestation in the northeastern Himalayan region. Firewood consumption pattern of three tribal communities of Meghalaya, India- Garo, Khasi and Jaintia was studied under varying ecological, socio-economic and socio-cultural conditions. Fuelwood consumption was highest to Khasi community (5.81 kg/capita/day), followed by the Garo (5.32 kg/capita/day) and Jaintia (3.90 kg/capita/day), respectively, irrespective of their socio-economic status. The labour energy expenditure for fuelwood collection was highest for the Jaintia (88.56 MJ/capita/yr) and minimum to Garo (70.64 MJ/capita/yr). The fuelwood is burnt for various activities such as cooking, water heating, space heating, lighting and livestock rearing, etc. Among various activities, cooking required maximum energy. Commercial fuel is beyond the reach of the tribal communities due to their poor socio-economic conditions. The estimated growing stock is unable to sustain the rate of fuel consumption. This information could be utilized for developing appropriate technology for afforestation programes in this region since 90% of the total population use biomass as an important source of energy. r 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Firewood; Tribal communities; NEH region; Deforestation; Meghalaya; India
1. Introduction Fuelwood has been identified as one of the most significant causes of forest decline in many developing countries. According to one estimate, firewood accounts for over 54% of all global harvests per annum, suggesting a significant and direct role of woodfuel in forest loss (Osei, 1993). India’s 87% cooking energy demand is met from noncommercial fuels and the demand for fuelwood has grown far faster than the supply (Anonymous, 1985). On average, about half of all energy (commercial and biomass) consumed is used for cooking food, which is nearly double the energy (fossil fuel and electricity) use by agriculture and industrial sector combined together (Anonymous, 1982; Hall et al., 1982). Tribal communities of northeastern Himalayan (NEH) region heavily rely on forest resources for their subsistence and 90% population of the region use biomass as an important source of energy (Bhatt et al., 2001). Shifting cultivation coupled with excessive *Corresponding author. Tel.: +91-364-570301; fax: +91-364570257. E-mail address: [email protected] (B.P. Bhatt).
deforestation for firewood has brought more than 50% area of the NEH states, e.g., Nagaland, Manipur and Sikkim under wastelands. In Meghalaya alone, 44.2% of the total geographical area is under wastelands (Anonymous, 2000a). Due to dwindling forest resources and prevailing environmental laws without provision of alternative sources of energy, the very existence of the local folk is being threatened. Although fuelwood is the only source of energy, nevertheless there is dearth of basic information about rural energy supply and consumption pattern, and its impact on forest resource. At the same time, energy planners overlook this most essential energy use and planning priorities are usually met in favour of the industrial and agricultural sector’s commercial energy demand rather than for cooking. Therefore, the present study has following objectives: (a) To estimate the quantities of fuelwood consumption by the household sector of different tribal communities of Meghalaya under varying ecological, socio-economic and socio-cultural conditions. (b) To collect information on the tree species, being preferred and used by traditional societies.
0301-4215/04/$ - see front matter r 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 3 0 1 - 4 2 1 5 ( 0 2 ) 0 0 2 3 7 - 9
ARTICLE IN PRESS 2
B.P. Bhatt, M.S. Sachan / Energy Policy 32 (2004) 1–6
(c) To evaluate the influence of climate, season, festival celebration and family size on fuelwood consumption. (d) To estimate the labour energy spent on fuelwood collection. (e) Status of the forest resource in the region.
2. Study area and climate The study covers a geographical area of 22,429 km2 and situated in tropical to temperate zone. The region is characterized by undulating topography, wide variations in altitude, rainfall, temperature and soil conditions. The climate is typically monsoonic, with about 85% of the total annual rainfall occurring during the rainy season. The average maximum temperature during the rainy season is 301C and average minimum temperature 141C, with a maximum and minimum of 201C and 81C, respectively, during the winters. Garo, Khasi and Jaintia tribal communities are inhabited in the study area. The total population of the state is 23,06,069 (11,67,840 male and 11,38,229 females) according to provisional census 2001. Population growth of the state has increased 6.76 fold in the last 100 years (Anonymous, 2000b). Livestock population in the state is 1.18 million as per 1992 livestock census. Slash and burn agriculture (locally known as jhum), as well as, valley cultivation is the mainstay of economy of the rural folk. Rainfed agriculture occupies 65% of the total cultivated area. Till 3 decades ago, jhum cultivation was not alarming as its cycle was 20–30 years but of late it has been reduced to 3–5 years partly owing to population explosion and partly to loss of fertile soil due to over exploitation of forest resource (Ramakrishnan, 1987). Summer crops are mainly cultivated, however, at the places where irrigation facilities are available, winter cropping is also practiced. Rice is a staple crop of the region, occupying 72% of the total cultivated area, followed by maize and pulses. Other crops include ginger, colocasia, turmeric and sweet potato in jhum fields (Anonymous, 2000b).
3. Data collection The study was carried out during March 2001 to February 2002 starting with a preliminary survey in the villages of different communities to count the number of families and members in each household. The economic status was determined in terms of land holdings, animal owned, type of employment, and total income. The families were then broadly classified into two categories, i.e., above and below the poverty line. A minimum of 15
families of each socio-economic class at each community was used for the fuelwood consumption study. The quantity of fuelwood consumption was measured over a period of 24 h using a weight survey method (Mitchell, 1979; Bhatt et al., 1994). Quantification of fuelwood use was made for the main tasks of cooking, lighting, space heating and miscellaneous uses. Each sampled household was visited round the year to record the firewood consumption. Initially, a wood lot was weighted and left in the kitchen and the household was requested to burn wood only from this bundle. After 24 h, the actual fuelwood consumption was measured. Based on the work of Mitchell (1979), the energy value for 1 kg of fuelwood was taken to be 16.80 MJ/kg. The time and type of labour spent for fuelwood collection was then converted to MJ (Gopalan et al., 1978). Total fuel energy consumed was apportioned to each activity (Leach, 1976). We used 0.418 for sedentary, 0.488 for moderate and 0.679 for heavy work for an adult male, respectively, and 0.331, 0.383 and 0.523 MJ/h for an adult female. For heavy work by children 9–12 yr of age, we used 0.412 MJ/h. The overall evaluation of firewood species was calculated as the sum of the ranks obtained by each fuelwood species for each group of attributes divided by sum of ranks obtained by all the species. For each attribute, the top species was assigned the highest rank of 34. Hence, a higher overall rank sum index (ORSI) corresponded to a better-rated species (Simonne et al., 1999).
4. Results Per capita firewood consumption of different tribal communities exhibited that Khasi required highest (5.81 kg/capita/day) and Jaintia lowest (3.90 kg/capita/ day) firewood, irrespective of their socio-economic conditions (Table 1). On average, there is 32% more biomass consumption by Khasi community than Jaintia. No much difference was recorded in biomass consumption according to socio-economic conditions of the different tribal communities. Nevertheless, below the poverty line, biomass consumption increased by 14%, irrespective of communities. All inhabitants use biomass for fuel. Commercial fuels like LPG, kerosene, electricity, coal, etc accounted only to 1.2–9.3% and are mainly consumed by economically well-off households. The tribal communities walk 1.5– 2.0 km in search of firewood collection. Collection of firewood is the main outdoor occupation of the women and children. Men rarely perform this task, only in exigencies. Collection is generally carried out in the morning and evening hours. A single load of fuel bundle may vary from 25–30 kg in case of women and 10–15 kg in case of children. Collection is intensified during
ARTICLE IN PRESS B.P. Bhatt, M.S. Sachan / Energy Policy 32 (2004) 1–6
3
Table 1 Firewood consumption (kg/capita/day7SD) by different tribal communities of Meghalaya in Northeast India Tribal communities
Firewood consumption Income above poverty line
Jaintia Khasi Garo Average
Income below poverty line
Summer
Winter
Summer
Winter
2.4170.8 4.3171.1 3.7470.4 3.48
4.5672.0 6.5472.3 6.2570.7 5.78
3.0071.3 5.0971.4 4.1271.1 4.07
5.6272.5 7.2870.9 7.1871.5 6.69
Table 2 Labour energy expenditure (MJ/capita-year7SD) for collection of fuelwood by different tribal communities according to their socio-economic groups Jaintia
Consumer
Male Female Child Total d km
Khasi
Garo
I+
I
I+
I
I+
I
23.2871.14 40.1972.11 15.7270.54 79.19 2.00
28.7971.52 49.7072.23 19.4470.82 97.93 1.50
23.3071.21 41.7071.34 16.3270.68 81.32 1.50
27.5471.16 47.5571.82 18.6070.96 93.69
2.2472.10 38.4171.54 15.0270.13 55.67
25.1671.71 43.4472.03 17.0071.14 85.60
I += income above the poverty line, I = income below the poverty line, d = average distance of forests from villages.
Table 3 Fuelwood energy consumption (MJ 103/capita/yr7SD) among different socio- economic households of tribal communities Jaintia
Application I Cooking including food for livestock Lighting Space heating Boiling of water, etc Other miscellaneous uses Total energy required
+
10.7072.8 — 3.2171.3 2.1471.3 5.3473.0 21.37
Khasi I
13.2273.0 1.5970.8 3.9671.6 3.1773.4 4.4972.1 26.43
winter to build up the stock for the ensuing rainy season. Firewood is stored in separate enclosures built along the side of the house or in space between the ground and the raised platform of the house since the houses are built about 2 feet above the ground level resting on wooden poles. On average, maximum labour energy for firewood collection is expended by Jaintia (88.56 MJ/capita/yr), followed by Khasi (87.51 MJ/capita/yr), irrespective of their socio-economic structure (Table 2). Total energy consumption for the various categories showed that cooking consumed most of the energy (about 50% of total consumption) among all the tribal communities. Boiling of water ranks after cooking in fuelwood energy consumption. Irrespective of socioeconomic status of the tribal communities, space heating
I
+
16.6572.4 — 5.0071.5 3.3372.8 9.9971.1 34.96
Garo I
18.9771.7 2.2870.4 5.6971.4 4.5574.0 6.4573.3 37.93
I
þ
15.3171.1 — 4.5971.0 3.0674.7 5.2172.2 28.18
I 17.3274.2 2.0871.2 5.2072.0 4.1673.7 5.8971.7 34.65
also needs a greater amount of fuelwood. On average, fuelwood energy consumption was higher for Khasi (36.45 MJ 103/capita/yr), followed by Garo (31.42 MJ 103/capita/yr) (Table 3). Schima spp., Pinus kesiya, Mesua ferrea, Macaranga denticulata, Garcinia spp., Duabanga indica and Aesculus assamica have been found suitable firewood species based on overall rank sum index, which were assessed on the basis of fuelwood production, characteristics of firewood and availability. But the procurement of preferred species is becoming increasingly difficult. Thus, all kinds of woods are used as firewood, which include the inferior shrubs and trees besides bamboo species, which occupy 26.0% of the total forest cover (Table 4).
ARTICLE IN PRESS B.P. Bhatt, M.S. Sachan / Energy Policy 32 (2004) 1–6
4 Table 4 Popular firewood species in the region Species
ORSIa
Tribal communities
b
Acer oblongum Aesculus assamicab Artocarpus integrifoliab Bambusa cacharensis B. nutans B. pallida B. balcooa Betula sppb Castonopsis indicab Chuckrasia tabularisb Cryptomeria japonica Dendrocalamus hamiltonii Dipterocarpus macrocarpusb Duabanga indicab Garcinia paniculatab G. pedunculata Gmelina arboreab Lagerstroemia citrata L. speciosa Macaranga denticulatab Melocanna baccifera Michelia champacab M. oblongab Mesua ferreab Myrica esculentab Pinus kesiya Prunus cerasoidesb P. undulatab Schima khasiana S. wallichiib Shorea assamicab Simingtonia populneab Terminalia belliricab T. myriocarpab
Jaintia
Khasi
Garo
No No No Yes No Yes No No No Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No Yes
Yes Yes No No No Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes
No No Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes No Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
0.023 0.035 0.032 0.016 0.015 0.015 0.016 0.031 0.033 0.030 0.020 0.017 0.033 0.034 0.035 0.040 0.029 0.026 0.028 0.038 0.022 0.034 0.033 0.039 0.024 0.039 0.029 0.030 0.039 0.040 0.031 0.033 0.033 0.034
a
ORSI represents Over-all rank sum index based on firewood production, characteristics and availability (Source: Simonne et al., 1999). Excellent woodfuel; Yes—popular firewood in the area and/or regularly purchased; No—not popular, may not be found in the area (Source: field data). b
5. Discussion Dependency on forest for fuelwood is causing severe deforestation in the region (Ramakrishnan, 1987). The present study revealed that fuelwood consumption among the three tribal communities ranged from 3.90 to 5.81 kg/capita/day, which seems considerably higher than the value reported for the rural and tribal communities of the western Himalayas (1.49 kg/capita/ day) by Bhatt et al. (1994); for Southern India (1.9– 2.2 kg/capita/day) by Reddy (1981) and Hedge (1984); for South and South-East Asian countries (1.7–2.5 kg/ capita/day) by Donovan (1981) and Wijesinghe (1984), and for Himalayan range of Nepal (1.23 kg/capita/day) by Mahat et al. (1987). Comparatively higher firewood consumption by tribal communities of Arunachal Pradesh (3.1–10.4 kg/capita/day) and Garos (5.0 kg/
capita/day) has already been reported (Maikhuri, 1991; Shankar, 2000), which supports to present findings. The deteriorating status of biomass has important ramifications since rural women have to spend more time, and travel longer distance for collecting fuel, fodder and water, imposing additional burden on them. In the absence of the hardwood, collection of bamboo for fuel is increasing. The share of bamboo in fuel was about 5–10%, particularly to ignite the fire but not to sustain entire cooking. However, it has now gone up to 50% and bamboo has become a substitute for the wood. There are 22 genera and 55 species of bamboo in the study area. Its wide spread cover, easy availability and quick regeneration have facilitated the shift. Nevertheless, the women contend with the problems associated with the bamboo burning such as excessive
ARTICLE IN PRESS B.P. Bhatt, M.S. Sachan / Energy Policy 32 (2004) 1–6
smoke, low sustained heat value and quick burning properties. Despite these problems, bamboos continue to be a major fuel source in the absence of other options (Shankar, 2000; Bhatt and Tomar, 2002). Extensive coal mining has also converted the thousands of hectares of land into new habitats, which lack the soil structure completely and elemental concentrations of the same has greatly altered the areas such as hill tops and hill slopes. Cultivated and abandoned agricultural fields are also affected by deposition of coal particles through wind and seepage water. Currently 157.0, 71.0 and 58.0 km2 area, respectively, of Khasi, Garo and Jaintia hills is under coal mining (Shankar et al., 1993). Another reason for the situation going out of control is that the administrative authority of unclassed forests (89.54% of the total forests) mostly rests with the Autonomous District Councils of Khasi Hills, Garo Hills and Jaintia Hills. Due to poor management of unclassed forests, jhum cultivation is confined mainly in the said forests. Thus reckless felling of green trees is a continuous process. Silviculture practices of the forest department are restricted only to reserve forest or protected forests, which constitutes only 10.33% and 0.13% of the total forests, respectively. On average, Jaintia Hills, West Garo Hills and East Khasi Hills are worst affected due to large-scale deforestation (Anonymous, 1999). On the basis of firewood consumption pattern among three tribal communities, it is need of the hour to seriously consider the problem of deforestation. The recorded forest area is 42.34% of the total geographical area. Dense and open forests constitute 37.9% and 62.1%, respectively, to total forest cover. There has been a decrease of 57 km2 in the forest cover during the assessment year of 1995 and 1997, therefore, the per capita availability of forestland, which was 1.17 ha in 1981 reduced to 0.54 ha in 1995. The area currently affected by shifting cultivation is estimated as 0.11 million ha (Anonymous, 1999). Whereas, for better soil and water conservation the density of tree cover should not be reduced by more than 50% in Himalayan zone of India. According to another estimate, land degradation and soil erosion has brought 49.0% of the geographical area as problematic one (Borthakur, 1992; Anonymous, 2000b). The actual firewood requirement of the region was estimated as 1,37,179.3 and 2,17,233.8 ton/yr, respectively, during 1991 and 2001. Whereas, the total growing stock of forest during 1993 has been reported 104.14 million cubic meters. The timber production, which was recorded 8882 m3 during 1985–1990, has remained 1085 during the assessment year 1992–1993. Similarly the sustained yield of fuelwood, which was 292 ton in 1985– 1990, reduced to 61 ton in 1992–1993 (Maiti and Chakrabarti, 2002). Thus over a period of less than 5
5
years, there was 79.1% decrease in firewood production and 87.8% in timber production, respectively. As far as afforestation schemes are concerned, rural fuelwood plantation, operation soil watch, restoration of coal mining areas and degraded lands have been taken up by various agencies but the actual area planted remained only 0.92% of the total geographical area during last 20 years. The important species included in afforestation are Gmelina arborea, Tectona grandis, Shorea robusta, Pinus kesiya, Albizia lebbek, A. procera, Toona ciliata and Michelia champaca (Anonymous, 1999). Thus it is conspicuous that the pace of afforestation is not to the tune of forest harvest.
6. Conclusions Substantial increase in human and livestock population, lack of land ownership rights, shortening of jhum cycle, bun method of cultivation of hill slopes and hill tops, conversion of forest into plantation for horticultural crops, coal mining, industrial demand causing increased extraction, stray grazing, forest fire and clearance of forest for farmland and urban development has caused severe deforestation besides firewood extraction. Although the apex court of India has imposed a ban on felling of green trees in 1996 but unfortunately the process in the region is still in vogue. The forest based industries like saw mills and veneer mills are also responsible for forest degradation. In the study area alone, there were 242 wood based industries until the banning by the Supreme Court on green felling. Higher fuelwood consumption is mainly due to lack of unconventional energy sources. Extensive farming for firewood could be the only alternative to bridge the gap between the demand and supply. It has also been observed that the firewood consumption also differs according to family size and small families have more firewood consumption than those of medium and large families (personal observations of authors). Cooking, consumes most of the energy because food is also cooked for pigs and other livestock, which are an integral part of farming. The firewood consumption was also influenced by the climate and season of the year. Per capita fuelwood consumption and fuelwood energy consumption is 3-fold higher in the region as compared to northwest Himalayan region (Bhatt et al., 1994). Degraded lands of the region are typically characterized by impoverished or eroded soils, hydrological instability, reduced primary productivity and diminished biological productivity. Hence, a comprehensive forest policy is required in the region so that there would be net addition to a perpetuating stock even after meeting the essential food, fodder and timber requirements of the people, as well as, the growing requirement of commercial exploitation. To achieve this, greater
ARTICLE IN PRESS 6
B.P. Bhatt, M.S. Sachan / Energy Policy 32 (2004) 1–6
coordination between the Govt. machineries, people and voluntary organizations is needed under protective care and supervision. Technologies regarding the use of smokeless chullahs and efficient cooking stoves should be encouraged, which can reduce pressure on forests. To meet out the growing demand of firewood, efforts are needed for mass afforestation through suitable firewood tree species. Species like Aesculus assamica, Artocarpus integrifolia, Castonopsis indica, Chuckrasia tabularis, Dipterocarpus macrocarpus, Duabanga indica, Garcinia spp., Gmelina arborea, Macaranga denticulata, Michelia spp., Mesua ferrea, Myrica esculenta, Prunus spp., Schima spp., Shorea assamica, Simingtonia populnea and Terminalia spp. have been found promising for energy plantation. Qualitative analysis of these firewood species have exhibited ideal firewood properties viz. high calorific value, high wood density, high biomass/ash ratio, low ash and low moisture content (Bhatt and Tomar, 2002; Bhatt and Tomar, communicated).
Acknowledgements Authors are thankful to the Director, ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region, Umiam, Meghalaya, India for providing all necessary facilities to conduct the work, and one anonymous referee for suggesting important modifications in the manuscript. Financial support from Department of Land Resources, Govt. of India is also acknowledged.
References Anonymous, 1982. The state of India’s environment. A Citizen Report. Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi. Anonymous, 1985. Towards a perspective on energy demand and supply in India. Advisory Board on Energy, Govt. of India, New Delhi. Anonymous, 1999. State of Forest Report. Published by Forest Survey of India, Ministry of Environment and Forests, Govt. of India, p.113. Anonymous, 2000a. Wastelands Atlas of India. Published by Ministry of Rural Development, Department of Land Resources, Govt. of India, New Delhi, India, p. 81. Anonymous, 2000b. Basic statistics of North Eastern Region. Published by North Eastern Council, Ministry of Home Affairs, Govt. of India, p. 297. Bhatt, B.P., Negi, A.K., Todaria, N.P., 1994. Fuelwood consumption pattern at different altitudes in garhwal Himalaya. Energy 19 (4), 465–468.
Bhatt, B.P., Singh, R., Misra, L.K., Tomar, J.M.S., Singh, M., Chauhan, D.S., Dhyani, S.K., Singh, K.A., Dhiman, K.R., Datta, M., 2001. Agroforestry research and practices: an overview. In: Verma, N.D., Bhatt, B.P. (Eds.), Steps Towards Modernization of Agriculture in NEH Region. ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region, Umiam Meghalaya, India, pp. 365–392. Bhatt, B.P., Tomar, J.M.S., 2002. Firewod properties of some Indian mountain tree and shrub species. Biomass and Bioenergy 23 (4), 257–260. Borthakur, D.N., 1992. Agriculture of the North East Region with Special Reference to Hill Agriculture. Beecee Prakashan, Guwahati, India, p. 265. Donovan, D.G., 1981. Fuelwood: How Much Do We Need? Institute of Current World Affairs, Hanover, NH, p. 23. Gopalan, G.B., Ramasastri, V., Balasubraminiam, S.C., 1978. Nutritive Value of Indian Foods. National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad, India, p. 204. Hall, D.O., Barnard, G.W., Moss, P.A., 1982. Biomass for Energy in Developing Countries. Pergamon Press, Oxford. Hegde, M.S., 1984. Fuel problem in villages: challenges and opportunities. Bulletin of Science 8, 8–13. Leach, G., 1976. Energy and Food Production. IPC Science and Technology Press, Guilford, London, p. 137. Mahat, T.B.S., Grigffin, D.M., Shepherd, K.P., 1987. Human impact on some forest of the middle hills of Nepal. Part 4: A detailed study in Southeast Sindhu Palanchock and Northeast Kabhere Palanchock. Mountain Research and Development 7, 114–134. Maikhuri, R.K., 1991. Fuelwood consumption pattern of different tribal communities living in Arunachal Pradesh in Northeast India. Bioresource Technology 35, 291–296. Maiti, A.K., Chakrabarti, S., 2002. Depletion of forest—a threat to environment and livelihood: a case study of Northeast India. In: Ray, B.D., Alam, K. (Eds.), Forest Resources in North East India. Omsons Publications, New Delhi, India, pp. 1–12. Mitchell, R., 1979. An Analysis of Indian Agro-ecosystem. Interprint, New Delhi, India, p. 180. Osei, W.Y., 1993. Woodfuel and deforestation—answers for a sustainable environment. Journal of Environmental Management 37, 51–62. Ramakrishnan, P.S., 1987. Energy flow and shifting cultivation. In: Vinod Kumar, T.M., Ahuja, D.R. (Eds.), Rural Energy Planning for the Indian Himalayas. Wiley Eastern, New Delhi, India, pp. 247–276. Reddy, A.K.N., 1981. An Indian village agricultural ecosystem case study of Ungra village. Part II. Discussion. Biomass 1, 77–88. Shankar, U., Boral, L., Pandey, H.N., Tripathi, R.S., 1993. Degradation of land due to coal mining and its natural recovery pattern. Current Science 65, 680–687. Shankar, U., 2000. Increasing biomass scarcity in Northeastern India: options with the villagers. In: Arunachalam, A., Khan, M.L. (Eds.), Sustainable Management of Forests—India. International Book Distributors, Dehradun, India, pp. 278–309. Simonne, E., Simonne, A., Boozer, R., 1999. Yield, ear characteristics and consumer acceptance of selected white sweet corn varieties in the Southern United States. Horticulture Technology 9 (2), 289–293. Wijesinghe, L.C.A.des., 1984. A sample study of biomass fuel consumption in Sri Lanka households. Biomass 5, 261–282.