Agarwood is a highly valuable aromatic plant variety mostly found in the tropical forest. The people of Assam have been practicing Agarwood cultivation and its trade for several decades. In this paper, an attempt has been made to investigate the indigenous knowledge system associated with the agar trade, i.e., detection of agar bearing plants, collection, processing, extraction of oil, and marketing of agarwood and its livelihood opportunities for the rural people. Naharani, a micro area with a few revenue villages located in the Golaghat district of Assam, has been selected for the study. This area is the hub of the Agar trade, and the local people have inherited this tradition from their ancestors. For this study, visit to different household industries, site observation, interviews with the people engaged in agar trade, and household surveys were carried out during 2016 and 2018. A simple random sampling technique was used for the selection of the sample household. Data have been collected from the randomly selected 975 households with a well-structured schedule-cum-questionnaire. Sustainable livelihood framework analysis was done to measure the livelihood assets of the people. It has been found that the agar trade and its associated practices have a significant contribution to the socio-economic condition of the rural people. As agarwood is now rarely found in the wild state, people have used to plant it in their homesteads and also developed plantation sites for its sustainable production. The homestead cultivation of agarwood and its trade alone contributes about 15-60% to the total annual income of the households. Although agarwood cultivation is commercially viable and sustainable, the farmers and traders are currently facing lots of hurdles to properly carry out their business in Assam.

中文翻译：

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印度东北部阿萨姆邦Golaghat区Naharani地区的沉香木实践和农村生计

沉香是一种非常有价值的芳香植物品种，主要存在于热带森林中。阿萨姆邦人民数十年来一直从事沉香木的种植及其贸易。在本文中，已尝试调查与琼脂贸易有关的本地知识系统，即检测琼脂植物，收集，加工，榨油，销售沉香及其对农村居民的谋生机会。纳哈拉尼（Naharani）是位于阿萨姆邦Golaghat区的一个拥有少量收入村庄的小地区，已被选为这项研究。该地区是琼脂贸易的枢纽，当地人民从其祖先那里继承了这一传统。在这项研究中，参观了不同的家庭产业，进行了实地观察，并采访了从事琼脂贸易的人们，在2016年和2018年进行了住户调查。采用简单的随机抽样技术选择样本家庭。数据是从随机选择的975户家庭中收集的，这些家庭结构良好，既有时间表又有问卷调查表。进行了可持续的生计框架分析，以衡量人民的生计资产。已经发现，琼脂贸易及其相关做法对农村人民的社会经济状况有重大贡献。由于沉香木现在很少在野生状态下发现，因此人们习惯于在自己的家中种植沉香，还开发了人工林以实现其可持续生产。沉香木的家园种植及其贸易本身对家庭年总收入的贡献约为15-60％。