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Contribution of Indian Gooseberry (Phyllanthus emblica) to Household Economy in Sri Lanka: A Case Study from Udadumbara Divisional Secretariat

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Abstract

Indian gooseberry, one of the most popular medicinal fruit crops in South and Southeast Asia, has become an important source of income for rural forest dwellers in Sri Lanka. However, very little is known about the role of Indian gooseberry in household economies and its contribution to the local and national economies. To address this issue, we conducted a study in Udadumbara Divisional Secretariat, Sri Lanka to estimate the economic contribution of Indian gooseberry to household incomes and to quantify its dependency level among households with different socio-economic characteristics. The data were collected from 117 households through interviews using semi-structured questionnaires. The results show that Indian gooseberry contributes on average 10.1% of the total household income, which is the third largest share after off-farm income (53.1%) and agricultural income (35.1%). The contribution of Indian gooseberry to the household income increases as other sources of income decrease which results in higher contributions for lower income households (16.4%) and lower contributions for higher income households (2.1%). Indian gooseberry income is significantly and negatively correlated with the agricultural land owned by households and water availability for agriculture and is positively correlated with the time spent for collection. Our results also found that if there is access to other sources of income and higher levels of education, the collectors’ dependences on Indian gooseberry are decreased. Moreover, the study found that Indian gooseberry trees are under a threatened and declining due to the reduction of forest cover and inappropriate management system. Therefore, collaborative management system through partnerships among rural community and the Forest Department is suggested.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the General Program of the National Social Science Foundation of China (Grant Number 15BGL.130). The authors would like to thank the Asia Pacific Network for Sustainable Forest Management and Rehabilitation for granting the scholarship to the first author. We also gratefully acknowledge N.T.P. Karunarathna, W.M.J.P.K.Wanigasekara and all of the forest officers in the Range forest office of Hunnasgiriya, Sri Lanka for their cooperation and support during data collection.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Economics and Management, Beijing Forestry University, No. 35, Qinghua East Road, Haidian District, Beijing, 100083, People’s Republic of China

    E. M. B. P. Ekanayake, Mi Feng & Theodore Murindahabi

  2. Department of Forest Conservation, Sampathpaya, P.O. Box 3, Battaramulla, Sri Lanka

    E. M. B. P. Ekanayake, A. H. S. Nissanka & G. S. D. G. Patrick

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  1. E. M. B. P. Ekanayake
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Correspondence to E. M. B. P. Ekanayake.

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Ekanayake, E.M.B.P., Feng, M., Murindahabi, T. et al. Contribution of Indian Gooseberry (Phyllanthus emblica) to Household Economy in Sri Lanka: A Case Study from Udadumbara Divisional Secretariat. Small-scale Forestry 17, 277–292 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11842-017-9387-9

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