The forest in Jharkhand comprises of biological and geophysical diversities. Due to variations of altitude and rainfall diverse forest types and species are available in Jharkhand forest. Many species are economically important for the people living in & around the forest areas. These people mainly tribal are engaged in the collection of leaves, barks, gums, roots, flowers, fruits and sometimes entire plants.

The rural poverty though was highest among all states at 49%. Of the 49% rural poverty, 75% are people who live either inside or on the periphery of the forests. The survival of these 75% poverty stricken people depends a whole lot on the forests resources as forests are their main source of livelihood. This is more so during the lean season. The extremely poor rural people gather wood, minor forest produce etc from the forests and carry them to the urban areas where they sell them at distress prices.

A large percent of population depend totally on the forest during times of unemployment. Also, the survey reported that most forest products are collected for personal use. Forestry sector contributes 4 to 7 percent of employment and has very low productivity in terms of per unit generation of timber. In TSP districts, tribal populations are in majority but there are tribal populations in other districts also and for their livelihood the prime source is the forest. The forests, being one of the most important entity the terrestrial ecological system which is presently under extreme biotic pressure, is still a renewable natural resource that support not only human life but also providing various habitat to millions of life forms, attracts needs to manage it scientifically to sustain.
 

MINOR FOREST PRODUCE (MFP)

MFP play an important role in the livelihood support of tribal and forest dwellers in terms of subsistence and in come generation. When agriculture is gradually ceasing to be reliable, MFP sustains millions of tribal by providing an alternate source for food and income. The dependence is maximum on produces like Kenduleaf, Mahua flower, fruit, tamarind, Sal seed, Amla, Mybalan, Chiraita, Chironjee, Bantulsi etc.

Most of these products are wasted for lack of post harvesting technology in cleaning, packing , storage and processing. The forest in Jharkhand comprises of biological and geophysical diversities. Due to variations of altitude and rainfall, diverse forest types and species are available in Jharkhand forests. Many species are economically important for the people living in & around the forest areas. These people mainly tribal are engaged in the collection of leaves, barks, gums, roots, flowers, fruits and entire plants from the forest areas for their livelihood out of which many species are medicinally and industrially important. Population wise 50%(approx.) population are dependent on forest and out of these 70% (approx.) are BPL family.

These products are covered under Minor Forest Produce( MFP) or Non Timber Forest Produce (NTFP). These are obtained from the forest and do not include the wood. It has been the major source of revenue in many states.

Forest area in Jharkhand vis-a-vis India (in Sq. Km.)
Source : Jharkhand Statistics Profile 2006

District wise forest cover in Jharkhand

District	Geographic area	Forest Cover				Scrub
		Dense forest	Open forest	Total	Percent
Bokaro	1,929	270	304	574	29.76	58
Chatra	3,732	945	950	1,895	50.78	35
Deoghar	2,479	13	15	88	3.55	3
Dhanbad	2,996	70	104	174	5.81	21
Dumka (includes Jamtara)	6,212	231	257	488	7.86	109
Garhwa	4,092	670	705	1,375	33.60	59
Giridih	4,963	324	459	783	15.78	26
Godda	2,110	163	227	390	18.48	22
Gumla (includes Simdega)	9,077	1,231	1,255	2,486	27.39	58
Hazaribagh	5,998	909	1,253	2,162	36.05	66
Kodarma	1,435	229	387	616	42.93	3
Lohardaga	1,491	392	165	557	37.36	11
Pakur	1,571	79	215	294	18.71	17
Palamu  (includes Latehar)	8,657	2,616	1,244	3,860	44.59	205
West Singhbhum	9,907	2,103	1,624	3,727	37.62	84
East Singhbhum (includes Saraikela)	3,533	597	288	885	25.05	60
Ranchi	7,698	735	997	1,732	22.50	68
Sahebganj	1,834	150	401	551	30.04	71
Total	79 714	11,787	10.850	22,637	28,40	976