PROCUREMENT OF MINOR FOREST PRODUCE

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The Ministry of Tribal Affairs has advised all states to speed up procurement operations for Minor Forest Produceto support the Tribals especially in the backdrop if situation created by COVID-19 and also keeping in view that it is now peak season for gathering of MFP.

An online monitoring dashboard has been created for reporting the activities undertaken at the State level for procurement of Minor Forest Produce.
It’s called the Van Dhan Monit Dashboard, part of the “TRIFED E- Sampark Setu” being created for an exchange of information to and from every Panchayat and Van Dhan Kendra, either through Mail or Mobile.
The scheme of Van Dhan Kendras is operational in 22 States with significant Tribal population in the country and has the potential to benefit almost 1.1 crore tribal families in the country.
TRIFED proposes to link up with 10 lakh villages, district and state level partners, agencies and SHGs.

Minor forest produce includes non-timber items such as bamboo and other grasses, edible or useful roots, seeds, fruits, flowers and plants.
A number of people from scheduled tribes and other forest dwelling communities depend on the collection and sale of such items for their livelihood.

The Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED) came into existence in 1987. It is a national-level apex organization functioning under the administrative control of Ministry of Tribal Affairs.
TRIFED has its Head Office located in New Delhi and has a network of 13 Regional Offices located at various places in the country.
The basic objective of the TRIFED is to provide good price to the products made or collected from the forest by the tribal peoples..

It mainly undertakes two functions viz. Minor Forest Produce (MFP) development and Retail Marketing and Development.
If the price of the products fluctuates then TRIFED arranges compensation for the tribes from the Ministry of Agriculture.
It also assures the tribes for purchasing their products at a particular price, primary processing of products, storage of products and transportation etc.
It provides information related to fair price markets for the ‘Minor Forest Produce (MFP). Like tribes of all over country sell their products in the trade fair organised at the Pragati Maidan, New Delhi every year.
It helps in increasing the bargaining power of the tribes to fetch good price of the MFP.
It provides adequate training to the tribes to make value addition to their products.

The ultimate objective of TRIFED is socio-economic development of tribal people in the country by way of marketing development of the tribal products such as metal craft, tribal textiles, pottery, tribal paintings and pottery on which the tribals depends heavily for major portion of their income.
TRIFED acts as a facilitator and service provider for tribes to sell their product.
The approach by TRIFED aims to empower tribal people with knowledge, tools and pool of information so that they can undertake their operations in a more systematic and scientific manner.
It also involves capacity building of the tribal people through sensitization, formation of Self-Help Groups (SHGs) and imparting training to them for undertaking a particular activity.