Abstract
An inventory on Non-Timber Forest Product resources was made during 2005-2006 covering most forest types in Mizoram, N.E. India. A total of 272 species of NTFPs was made in the present study which included medicinal plants (85 families), fruit plants (23 families), food (20 families), fuelwood (18 families) and fodder plants (8 families). Among the various families, Poaceae contributed most (24) genera followed by Arecaceae 17 genera while the least by both Fabaceae and Verbenaceae 07 each. Albizia procera was the most preferred fuelwood species which was consumed by as high as 2075 households while the least preferred was Quercus pachyphylla (only 75 households) in the surveyed sites. A diverse variety of NTFPs were found from the different forest types among which the most important NTFP from utilization perspective was Broomstick. It has also been found a large variety of plants and fruits available to people were used for a variety of purposes. Such activities on one hand contributed to our knowledge of various uses of biodiversity and on the other have resulted in rapid depletion of natural resources.
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