Academic Research International Vol. 6(2) March 2015 ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Copyright © 2015 SAVAP International ISSN: 2223-9944, e ISSN: 2223-9553 www.savap.org.pk 106 www.journals.savap.org.pk Potency and Contribution of Non Timber Forest Products in Tabukan Barito Kuala Gunawansyah 1 , Anna Maria Makalew 2 , Rosidah 3 , Arfa Agustina Rezekiah 4 1,3,4 Faculty of Forestry, Lambung Mangkurat University, 2 Soil Science Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Lambung Mangkurat University, INDONESIA. 1 higuna_3@yahoo.com, 2 annmaak@gmail.com, 3 rosidah.radam@yahoo.com, 4 arfaagustina@gmail.com ABSTRACT Non timber forest product (NTFP) has the potential to improve the welfare of forest communities. This research was conducted to investigate the potency and contribution of NTFP in Tabukan District Batola Regency South Kalimantan Province. To obtain the working map, landsat satellite image from 8 LDCM was overlayed with topography map, spatial map, administration map of Barito Kuala Regency with scale 1:100.000. General survey was conducted in the fiield and the key person in Forestry Agency in the Regency and District were interwiewed. It was found that those are 3 villages having NTFPs namely: Tamba Jaya, Rantau Bamban, and Muara Pulau with NTFPs of rattan, honey and grey sedge. To obtain the potency and contribution of those NTFPs, participatory Rural Appraisal was conducted. The study found that the highest potency of NTFP is rattan (Calamus trachycoleus Becc). It was also revealed that the contribution of NTFP to the income of the society was 69.53% and the rest 30.47% were gained from other trading such as paddy and asalabor in palm oil estate. Keywords: Potency, contribution, non timber forest product INTRODUCTION Non Timber Forest Product (NTFP) includes all biologic materials other then wood which is resulted from natural forest and can be used for the human being. Included in this group are food, fruits, medicinal plants, oil, resin, sap, latex, tannin, dye, houseplats plants, wildlife, other row materials, and no exception rattan, bamboo, and fiber. The potency of NTFP is uncertainty known, because the activities of forest utilization by the third parties (private and State-owned enterprises) have been more devoted to the logs for export and world trading. However, NTFP still has important roles in trading activities and employment. The roles and contribution of NTFP are increasingly needed to be assessed for the economy of the community. The roles and potency of NTFPs increasingly need to be assessed for the economy of society, where the economy has been adapted by the commercialization of village life. When the economic development of the village stalemate, finally people still rely on traditional sector, such as shifting cultivation, hunting, utilization and collecting NTFPs for household or subsistent and trade (Rezekiah, 2006). The communities living in and around the forest depend most on the forest resources, especially NTFP. For centuries they utilize and manage the forest resources applying local culture to fulfill their needs such as coarbohydrate, protein, vitamine and minerals. Besides, they fulfill with paddy, animal hunting, forest fruits, as well as labor cash money.