The book was published in the year 2012.The price of this book was Rs. 125/-.
The ethnobiological study of the Kurumbar of Attappady provides an opportunity to explore the Traditional Knowledge System (TKS) of a shifting cultivator tribe. This study is undertaken in the Silent Valley buffer zone area identified as one of the hot spots of the world and gains importance because of its climax forest vegetation and biodiversity. The study assumes great significance while probing how the tribal communities of the area had been utilizing the various flora and fauna of the area and how far it is entrenched in their TKS. This ethnobiological knowledge of the Kurumbar can give us an understanding about the utility of vegetation of Western Ghats in general and the Silent Valley National Park in Particular for the wider society.
The study focuses the agricultural practices of a shifting cultivator tribe. The Kurumbar and plant life section presents various plant matter collected from the forests as roots and tubers, green leaves, mushrooms, nuts and medicinal plants. The study has brought out numerous varieties of cereals like ragi, chama, thina, sorghum varieties and legumes like thuvara, avara, keera and the mixed cropping pattern adopted by the Kurumbar. The mixed cropping pattern described in this study provides a document to the Kurumbar claim for PBR over their native cultivators. The zoological knowledge of the Kurumbar has been presented in the chapter Animal Husbandry and Wild Life. The Kurumbar knowledge on avifauna, aquafauna and arboreal fauna are presented. The Kurumbar ethnocentric knowledge on medicinal plants is a treasure trove of lead knowledge for research in phytochemistry and pharmacology.
The researcher also feels that KIRTADS would undertake similar ethnobiological study of tribal communities living inside the forests. The study can be beneficial to agricultural scientists, forest officials, ethnobotanists, ethnozoologists, and ethnopharmacologists as the study provide a deeper understanding of the TKS of the Kurumbar. It also helps the planners and administrators to prepare Action Plan for development based on the TKS of the tribal communities in general and Kurumbar in particular.
With immense satisfaction, I present the study to ethnobiologists and anthropologists who are involved in research and development of the Scheduled Tribes.
Dr. BINDU. S
DIRECTOR
KIRTADS
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