THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Tucked away in the hamlets of the Agasthyamalai Hills on the Western Ghats, 65-year-old Narayan Kani has been learning and creating awareness about improved ways of beekeeping without disturbing the ecological balance of the forest.
Being a senior member of the community, Narayan has vast knowledge of forest resources. He learned the ways to streamline collection and sale of the forest produce under the programme, Forest-Plus 2.0: Forest for Water and Prosperity.
The project was launched by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest.
Forest-Plus 2.0 aims to improve forest landscape and thereby increase economic opportunities for the tribal people in nearby settlements. The project helps them develop tools and techniques to strengthen the forest ecosystem. The five-year programme currently focuses on forests in three terrains — Kerala, Bihar and Telangana.The team conducted workshops in association with the Kerala Forest Department for people from the Kani Tribe.
“About 70 families from the tribal community are now engaged in beekeeping. Also, more women are participating in the programme. Many have also started adopting various sustainable ways to harvest the forest products,” said an official from the department.
Agasthyamalai is home to a wide variety of vegetation such as black dammar tree, which produces a resin that is widely used to make natural incense sticks and insect repellents. The resin can also be used to treat chronic skin ailments.
“The project creates awareness about the various benefits of the trees and also equip the people in the tribal settlement with modern tools to market their products,” said the official. Beehives have been distributed at the Kottoor section and training has also been completed, he added.