Supply Chain Management of Lac in Chhatarpur Forests: A Roadmap for Tribal Welfare, Women’s Empowerment and Sustainable NTFP Harvesting

Abstract

Lac, the resinous secretion of the scale insect Kerria lacca, is the only commercially significant resin of animal origin and one of the few non-timber forest products (NTFPs) whose commercial exploitation actively conserves rather than depletes the host resource. India supplies more than half of global output, yet the producers at the base of the chain — overwhelmingly tribal and forest-fringe households — capture a minority of the value created. This paper constructs an end-to-end supply chain roadmap for lac in the Chhatarpur forest area of the Bundelkhand region, Madhya Pradesh, where an estimated five lakh Palas (Butea monosperma) trees stand on wastelands and field bunds with utilisation below five per cent of viable hosts. Using a mixed-methods design that combined field observation of commercial cultivators, focus group discussions with tribal households, unstructured expert interviews, and secondary analysis of institutional and peer-reviewed data, the study maps the chain across upstream, midstream and downstream segments and models its economics. Results indicate that the month of pruning alone changes the broodlac yield ratio from 3.9 to 6.4 in Palas; that gross margin accrues disproportionately to the third-level trader (25–35%) and the advanced processor (40–55%) while the cultivator has no price-setting power under the prevailing Chauri-Patra convention; and that local conversion of sticklac to seedlac captures an 80–100% price premium at an entry investment of approximately Rs. 5.14 lakh. A three-tier collection network, grade-linked procurement from the first season, women's self-help groups positioned at the scraping and processing nodes, and staged value addition are proposed as the operative interventions. The roadmap demonstrates that lac cultivation, organised collectively and practised scientifically through the coupe system, can deliver an alternative revenue stream to tribal households while strengthening the host-tree canopy on which the wider NTFP economy depends.