Rajeshwari N.*
Department of Extension and Communication Management, College of Community Science, Dharwad-580005
Email: rajeshwarinavaneeth@gmail.com
Received-02.03.2021, Revised-15.03.2021, Accepted-26.03.2021
Abstract: India is bestowed with rich forests. The Western Ghats form one of the 25 mega biodiversity hotspots of the world with abundant flora and fauna and major part of the natural forest area in Karnataka in Western Ghats region. A study was undertaken in eight villages of Sirsi, Siddapur , Dharwad and Khanapur talukas of Northern transition zone and Hill zone of Karnataka which come under the jurisdiction of University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad to know the indigenous value addition done by forest dwellers and tribes to wild fruits and vegetables and constraints faced by them. The results revealed that the major wild fruits consumed and processed in the selected villages obtained from adjacent forests were by Kokum by 100 percent of the respondents in Sirsi and Siddapur Taluka, and only 20 percent of the respondents used Kokam in Dharwad taluka and 40 percent in Khanapur taluka.Uppage, was used and processed by almost all households in Sirsi and Siddapur taluka but was not found in Dharwad and Khanapur taluka. The other fruits that were consumed were pomello, breadfruit, monkey jack, indian hog plum, jamun, lemon, baelfruit, starfruit, sampige hannu, karonda, nurukulu, sale hannu, ranjala hannu, halage hannu, mullannu .The major wild vegetables consumed and processed in the adjacent forests of selected villages were Madras cucumber(moggekai), Colocasia leaves (kesuvina soppu) , Colocasia rrot(kesuvina gadde), Spine gourd(madhagalu), Chilli pepper (gokarna menasinakai), chakramuni soppu, insulin soppu, yalgurga, kardisoppu, ondelaga, anne soppu. The major indigenous value addition done was the fruits were preserved in the form of jams , syrups, juices, butter, powder, pappad etc by eighty percent of the respondents. The major constraint faced by almost all the respondents was seasonality and year round non availability.
Keywords: Forest dwellers, Wild Fruits, Indigenous, Wild Vegetables
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