The thrust areas at the Department of Sociology are action research programmes involving traditional forest-based income-generating activities, including bamboo crafts, NTFP collection and marketing, eco-tourism, etc.
The Sociology Department also prepares plans for voluntary resettlement and social impact assessments of development and conservation programmes. The department also takes up policy research focusing on the historical process of policy-making and policy implementation.
Considerable attention is being paid to community forestry in the country today regarding afforestation, watershed development, raising energy plantations, etc. Kerala has also launched an ambitious Participatory Forest Management Programme, the main thrust of which is to share incentives for sustainable use of forests, including responsible tourism, with local people. The department has been involved in the implementation and evaluation studies of the PFM.
Another significant area of research in our department is Agroforestry. Interestingly, people in Kerala have been practising agroforestry long before the term was coined by 'experts'. Most of the home gardens in Kerala contain a large number of tree species that provide various resources, forming an important component of the farming system. The intensity of tree cropping varies between agro-climatic regions and households, primarily due to the socio-economic environment. Our department has been actively working to identify the relationship between the socio-economic status of households and tree cropping intensity.
Project No.GOK RP 887/2024 Funding Agency: Kerala Bureau of Industrial Promotion (K-BIP), Govt. of Kerala
Principal Investigator: Dr. M Amruth
Kerala Forest Research Institute
Peechi 680653, Thrissur, Kerala, INDIA
Tel: +91-487-2690301
e-mail: sociology@kfri.res.in