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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Forest produce training for tribals

Forest produce training for tribals

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published Published on Oct 27, 2011   modified Modified on Oct 27, 2011
-The Telegraph
 
Tribals will now be involved in value-addition and marketing of minor forest produce (MFP) such as honey and tamarind so they can get better prices.

For the first time, a group of private companies has come forward to set up units that will carry out the value-addition and train tribal youths in the process as well as marketing the products.

The firms will set up such units under the public-private-partnerships (PPP), rural development minister Jairam Ramesh said on Monday, adding he had discussed the plan with ITC, Ballarpur Industries, Dabur, Godrej and Emami.

“The companies have agreed to set up PPP projects for value-addition of MFPs and training and employment of the tribal youths for such work. The details are being worked out,” Ramesh said.

Initially, six units will be set up, one each in Orissa, Jharkhand, Chhattishgarh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh — states that account for nearly 75 per cent of the MFPs.

The units will come up in the Naxalite-affected districts covered by the Centre’s Integrated Action Plan (IAP). Depending on the experience of the six states, similar units can be started in other areas, Ramesh said.

Ramesh said the central government would pay part of the investments to be made for setting up such units. His ministry aims to train nearly three lakh tribal youths in the next two years.

The training plan assumes significance against the backdrop of findings of a government-appointed committee that tribals have been exploited by businessmen who pay them low prices for forest produce.

State corporations, supposed to procure and market the items, do not do their jobs, said the committee headed by T. Haque, former chairman of the Commission for Agricultural Cost and Prices, which fixes farm product prices.

Most of the value-addition — essentially processing the raw forest produce —takes place outside the regions where the items are collected. As a result, tribals get very low prices for the items.

Lack of value-addition also reduces the shelf-life of the produce, further reducing the bargaining power of the tribal sellers.

To ensure they get a better deal, the Haque panel has suggested a slew of measures for MFPs, including uniform minimum support prices to be fixed by a central agency.

Over 100 million people in India collect and sell minor forest produce for a living.


The Telegraph, 27 October, 2011, http://www.telegraphindia.com/1111027/jsp/nation/story_14673069.jsp


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