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Indigenous Plant Utilization and Farming System of Garo Tribe in North-east Bangladesh: a Means of Sustainable Biodiversity Conservation

Md. Habibur Rahman
Department of Forestry and Environmental Science, School of Agriculture and Mineral Sciences, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet 3114, Bangladesh

Most. Jannatul Fardusi
Department of Forestry and Environmental Science, School of Agriculture and Mineral Sciences, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet 3114, Bangladesh

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

A special type of indigenous knowledge on plants utilization and farming system was explored by the Garo tribe community in the North-East region of Bangladesh, which correspond to the severe dependence on homestead forest. Results show that the Garo are totally dependent on the natural resources and that the extent of their dependency is faithfully reflected in their ethno-botanical knowledge. Dependencies that the study addressed focused on various aspects of food, fruit, energy, timber and health care on plants products. Garo tribe community in Bangladesh followed agrosilvipastoral system in their homesteads. They have indigenous hunting procedure to trap the animal in the forest. A total of 9 foods, 15 fruits, 12 energy-producing and 11 timber species was found and recorded that the Garo used in their daily life. Moreover, Garo used 23 medicinal plants species and have vast indigenous knowledge about using herbal medicine in daily health care practices. The Garo women do mostly the household activities, managing homestead forest and helping agricultural field where men perform all hard working activities like ploughing, cutting trees, digging the soil, preparation of horticultural and agricultural land, hunting, etc. The overall quality of life of the Garo could be considerably upgraded if ethno-botanical issues and their own indigenous knowledge will complement with scientific knowledge. The findings of the study conclude that the conservation of the indigenous knowledge of the Garo tribe related to plants utilization can also be turned to good account in forest conservation and is an important tool in this tribal area of Bangladesh.

Keywords: Agroforestry, Indigenous knowledge, Food habit, Fruit consumption, Medicinal plants, Gender role

Location: Netrokona district of Bangladesh

Start Date:

End Date:

Program Area: Conservation and Biodiversity

Commodity: Plant, Cropping System

Objectives:

The present study was undertaken in the East instead of east region (Netrokona district) of Bangladesh.

Methodology:

Study Area: The study was conducted at Durgapur upazila (sub-district; an administrative entity) of Netrokona district in the division of Dhaka, Bangladesh with an area of 293.42 km² . It is located between 25.1250^o N, 90.6875^o E (BBS 2005). It is bounded by Meghalaya (State of India) on the north, Netrokona Sadar and Purbadhala upazilas on the south, Kalmakanda upazila on the east, Dhobaura upazila on the west (Banglapedia 2000). Geologically the area is almost uniform (Rashid 1991). Topographically the area is characterized by its large platen like hillock, known as tilla. The drainage pattern of the area is dentric. The soil pattern of the Durgapur is complex. Most of the upland has deep, moderately well drained permeable clay with heavy clay in the valleys. Some of the upland has impervious clayey sub soil. Soil pH varies from 6 to 6.5 (Rashid 1991). The area lies in the semi drier part of the Bangladesh. The maximum temperature is usually 30^o C during the month of May and maximum temperature is about 10^o C during the month of January (BBS 2005). Survey Methods Among ten upazila of Netrokona district, the study area was selected purposively in Durgapur upazila because the Garo are concentrated in this area. There are two tribes in this district namely Garo and Hajong. We collected the list of Garo villages from Durgapur upazila statistics office. There were five villages in where Garos are dominant. Two villages namely Fulbari and Nollapara were selected randomly. We found 100 Garo households in these two villages. Data were collected both by the interview and from direct observation during July 2010 to December 2010. A total of 40 households were selected randomly, with a total population of 260 for interviewing. Sampling intensity was 40%. Before households were sampled, a formal discussion was held at the local union (a rural administrative unit consist of a number of villages) council office with the local representative in Chairman and Members of the local union council. The village headman and the members of the farmers group and other influential persons e.g. school teacher and the NGO officers. The objectives of this work were to explain the work indented and to identify two suitable research associate to assist the study. The following criteria were taken into consideration while recruiting the associates. They are community members, literate and able to communicate in local dialect and are willing to work with local community. A preliminary socio-economic survey was carried out to ascertain important socio-economic parameters of the study area to select respondents for detailed study. The households were surveyed completely at that stage. A semi-structured questionnaire was used for the survey, worked out in advance and pre-tested for intelligibility. On each topic the respondents were free to express his/her views. The survey was designed to gather information relating to: family size, household composition, educational status, total annual income, occupation of the respondents, different cultural activities, total land holdings, farming system of house and agrifields, division of labor, collected material from the for-est, myth an belief about trees and their and marketing of their farm product, etc. Household heads (in this case all were male) were the respondents of the study and they were helped from other family members where it was deemed necessary. First of all, species used for food, fruit, energy, timber, basketry, utensils and festivals were collected under their local names. A field-visit was then arranged to the forest and homestead with the relevant respondents and other key persons to ascertain the Bengali and scientific name. Following this, a list of the species used for various purposes was prepared using Das and Alam (2001); Dey (2006) as the basis of reference. The various parts of the plant species used for food and fruit were ascertained with the several physical observations in the Garo house. The baskets and utensils made of forest products were checked to corroborate the interview and plants used for festivals also were crosschecked with several physical observations.

Source of Information: Journal of Forest Science Vol. 28, No. 2, pp. 84-96, May, 2012 http://jofs.or.kr

Article Link (Online Journal):

Funding Source:

Budget:

Total Budget (Tk.) :

Achievement/Findings:

The Garo community is very heavily dependent on the plants for all kinds of produce for which it finds multiple uses, the most important of which are food, fruit, energy, timber and medicine so much that they constituted one of the integral components of forest ecosystem, where they had developed a balance with nature which might be viewed as a biome, a balance between man (here the Garo themselves) on one hand and flora and fauna on the other. The purpose of this study was to provide insights of the indigenous knowledge of Garo’s practiced on plain land and homestead management that would be useful to the agricultural department, relevant non-government organization, and forest department in the efforts to support their livelihoods. The indigenous knowledge on the utilization of the resources also shows a very particular pattern of forest use. They possessed an intimate relation with each and every component of forest like herbs, shrubs, trees, vines, wild animals both harmless and ferocious ones, insects, even soil and water also. Traditional dietary practices, especially involving plants, may provide important and valuable information on the medicinal effects on humans. For a full understanding of the nutrition and medicinal values of the food materials, chemical analyses need to be carried out on the respective parts of plants. Plants are also used as a source of energy; timber shows a traditional pattern of usage. To understand the scientific basis of these usages, studies on calorific values of the species used for energy, traditional use of the cooking stoves, wood structures and small scale forest based industries in the study area should be undertaken.

Knowledge Management: Journal