Forests at the heart of food security, nutrition and livelihood: FAO
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), jointly with the Landscape Alliance, released a report titled "Forests for food: Nourishing people, sustaining the planet" on 15 September 2026
The report finds that over 5 billion people globally depend on forests for some part of their livelihoods, and that more than 50,000 wild species are used for food or medicinal purposes, with at least 10,000 consumed directly as food
It documents that forest resources can contribute up to 20% of rural incomes in some regions, about one billion people rely on medicinal plants sourced from forests, and roughly a quarter of the world's population depends on woodfuel
The report finds that in parts of Africa, wild meat can supply up to 80% of daily protein intake, while in the Amazon, fish makes up 44% of food consumed by weight; in India, children in high forest-cover areas were found to have more diverse diets and lower stunting rates
The report calls for integrating forests into national food security and nutrition statistics and policy, alongside stronger land rights and data systems
Forest Rights Act, 2006 — Ownership Rights over Minor Forest Produce
The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 (commonly the Forest Rights Act or FRA) recognises the rights of forest-dwelling communities over forest land and produce that colonial and post-colonial forest law had historically denied them. Section 3(1)(c) specifically vests ownership, access, use, and disposal rights over Minor Forest Produce (MFP).
Key Details
- Section 2(i) defines MFP as all non-timber forest produce of plant origin, including bamboo, honey, tendu/kendu leaves, medicinal plants, lac, and tuber/root produce
- Section 3(1)(c) grants ownership of MFP "traditionally collected within or outside village boundaries" to forest-dwelling Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers, reversing the earlier state-monopoly regime over such produce
- The FRA also recognises individual forest rights (habitation, cultivation) and community forest resource rights, implemented via Gram Sabha-level claims processes
The FAO report's emphasis on forests as direct sources of food, income, and nutrition mirrors the rationale behind FRA's MFP ownership provision, which formally recognises the livelihood dependence the report quantifies globally.
Van Dhan Vikas Yojana — Minimum Support Price for MFP
The Van Dhan Vikas Yojana, launched by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs and implemented through the Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED), aims to improve tribal incomes through value addition, branding, and marketing of Minor Forest Produce, operating under the broader Mechanism for Marketing of MFP through Minimum Support Price (MSP).
Key Details
- Launched on 14 April 2018; organises forest-produce gatherers into Van Dhan Vikas Kendras (VDVKs), each built around ten Self-Help Groups of roughly 30 tribal MFP gatherers
- Thousands of VDVKs have been sanctioned across states and union territories, with hundreds of crores of rupees in cumulative funding, covering products such as mahua, honey, tamarind, amla, sal leaves, and medicinal herbs
- The scheme operationalises the MSP mechanism for MFP, ensuring gatherers receive a floor price rather than being fully exposed to middlemen-driven market rates
The FAO report's finding that forest resources can contribute up to 20% of rural incomes is the exact livelihood gap that Van Dhan Vikas Yojana targets by formalising and de-risking India's MFP value chain for forest-dependent communities.
India State of Forest Report (ISFR) and National Forest Policy, 1988
The India State of Forest Report, published biennially by the Forest Survey of India (FSI, established 1981, under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change), is India's official satellite-based assessment of forest and tree cover, growing stock, and carbon stock. It measures progress against the forest-cover target set by the National Forest Policy, 1988.
Key Details
- The National Forest Policy, 1988 set a target of 33% forest and tree cover for the country as a whole (with a higher target of 60% for hilly and mountainous regions), without a fixed timeline
- ISFR 2023, the 18th edition of the report, recorded national forest cover of 715,343 sq km, up from 698,712 sq km in 2013; India's overall forest and tree cover stood at 24.62% of geographical area as of the ISFR 2021 assessment, still short of the 33% policy target
- ISFR data — including growing stock, agroforestry extent, and forest-dependent livelihoods indicators — is the statistical base against which reports like FAO's argue that forest-food contributions remain under-captured
The FAO report's core critique — that forests' role in food security is "largely ignored in national statistics" — applies directly to India's own forest accounting: ISFR tracks cover and carbon comprehensively but does not systematically capture forest-food or nutrition contributions to rural diets.
- Global population dependent on forests for livelihoods: over 5 billion
- Wild species used for food/medicine: 50,000+ (at least 10,000 consumed directly as food)
- Forest resources' share of rural income in some regions: up to 20%
- Population dependent on forest-sourced medicinal plants: ~1 billion; population dependent on woodfuel: ~25% of world population
- Wild meat's share of daily protein in parts of Africa: up to 80%; fish share of food consumed by weight in the Amazon: 44%
- India's National Forest Policy (1988) target: 33% forest and tree cover nationally (60% in hills); ISFR 2021 actual: 24.62%
- ISFR 2023 recorded forest cover: 715,343 sq km (up from 698,712 sq km in 2013)