Promoting Tribal Livelihoods-Workshop organized by TRIFED on MSP for MFPs, Van Dhan Vikas Karyakram, Marketing of Tribal Handicrafts & Handloom and Research & Development Activities

Ministry of Tribal Affairs

Promoting Tribal Livelihoods

Workshop organized by TRIFED on MSP for MFPs, Van Dhan Vikas Karyakram, Marketing of Tribal Handicrafts & Handloom and Research & Development Activities

Indian Institute of Science, CV Raman Road, Malleshwaram, Bengaluru, Karnataka- 560012

19^th Sept 2018

Inclusive growth subsumes tribal, which constitute over 8% of the total population of India. Out of the total tribal population of 10.43 Crores, about 50% are estimated to be residing in forest area. Thus, tribal development and forest development are mutually complementary. Minor Forest Produce (MFP) are primary source of income and livelihood for about Rs 5 crore tribal people in the country. These are also essential raw material for various industries ranging from chocolates to pharmaceuticals to paints and paper. The trade of MFPs in the country is estimated to be about Rs.2,00,000 crores a year. Thus, an ideal model for tribal development in forested districts has to be MFP-centric.

The Government of India has brought in certain reforms in the sector through Provisions of Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 and the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 which conferred ownership rights on tribal Gram Sabhas in respect of MFP found in their area. In 2014, the Scheme of Minimum Support Price for MFP was also introduced which provides minimum support price to MFP gatherers for selected MFPs. However, there are certain gaps that need to be addressed for holistic tribal development.

Even though prices for MFP & tribal handicrafts are attractive in the secondary and tertiary markets, routine trade is un-remunerative for the Tribal in the primary market where he sells. NTFP & Handicrafts is traded in over 10,000 road-side, largely unorganised, local markets (haat bazaars / primary market). Context could encourage unfair trade practices. Middleman gain, the tribal has to be content with less than 20% value.Value addition to NTFPs at grass root can play an important role in increasing tribal incomes. It is expected to increase the share of tribals in the value chain to 50-60% (from the present share of 20-25%).

Established in 1987, Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India Limited (TRIFED) is a National Level Cooperative body under administrative control of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA). TRIFED’s mission is to generate enhanced livelihood opportunities for tribal by undertaking activities related to sustainable gathering of Minor Forest Produce (MFP), value addition and marketing of MFPs & tribal handicrafts. Headquartered in New Delhi, TRIFED undertakes various activities to support development &marketing of tribal products:

·         Retail trade/ marketing of tribal handicraft & handloom

·         MFP procurement, storage, transportation & marketing, operations & it

·         Van Dhan Vikas Karyakram - training, primary value addition & marketing

·         Research & Development/ IPR activity & commercialization

These activities are coordinated through network of 14 regional offices (RO) of TRIFED that are spread across the country in 14 different States.

Marketing of tribal handicraft & handloom

Under grant-in-aid of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA), TRIFED is implementing Schemes of “Institutional Support for Development & Marketing of Tribal Products/Produce” for providing marketing support for various handlooms and handcrafted tribal products produced by tribal artisans. In an effort to scale up the livelihood and income generating opportunity for tribals, TRIFED has progressively established a chain of 87 retail outlets across India for marketing of handlooms and handcrafted tribal products under TRIBES Indiabrand through 36 own outlets, 33 consignment stores and 18 franchisees. Efforts are being made to enhance the total number of stores to 150. Possibility for setting up oversees Franchisee partners is also being explored by TRIFED. During the year 2017-18, a record purchase of Rs. 15.86 Crores worth tribal products was made by TRIFED, which was 166% increase over the last financial year, benefitting about 70,000 tribal artisans

Besides, TRIFED also organizes and facilitates participation of tribal entrepreneurs in various exhibitions to boost direct income generation for tribals. A concept of ‘Aadi Mahotsav’ has been introduced, which is a 15 days exhibition cum sale event organized through TRIFED for marketing of tribal products. During 2017-18, a sale worth Rs 4.42 Crores was achieved through such events directly benefiting about 1160 tribal artisans who participated in the event.

Marketing opportunities through e-commerce platforms is also being explored. About 1500 different tribal products are being marketed through e-marketing portals as Amazon, Snapdeal, Flipkart, Paytm and GeM. Besides, TRIFED has also launched its own e-commerce website www.tribesindia.com and TRIBES INDIA mobile application, which is being upgraded continually towards providing a more transparent and enhanced sales/ purchase experience  Concurrently, efforts are being made by TRIFED for publicizing &brand building of the tribal products through online and offline advertising.

Marketing of Minor Forest Produce(MFP) through Minimum Support Price(MSP)

TRIFED is also the nodal implementation agency for Scheme of “Mechanism for Marketing of Minor Forest Produce (MFP) through Minimum Support Price (MSP) and Development of Value Chain for MFP” introduced by the Government of India in 2013-14 for providing fair price for the MFPs collected by tribal through Minimum Support Price (MSP). It is a holistic scheme that offers support to tribals through assured buying of non-nationalized/ non-monopolized MFPs at fair prices. The Scheme also supports modernization of haat bazaars, infrastructure development for storage (dry/cold), transportation, secondary/ tertiary processing, training and capacity building etc.

Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA), is the Nodal Ministry for implementation of the scheme and announces Minimum Support Price (MSP) for the selected MFPs with the technical support from TRIFED. TRIFED acts as the Central Nodal Agency for implementation and monitoring of the scheme. The Scheme is implemented through a State level agency (SLA) appointed by the State Government. MoTA provides a revolving fund to the SLA. Loss, if any, is shared by Centre and State in the ratio of 75:25.

Launched in 2013-14, the Scheme has approved outlay of Rs. 1176.28 crore of which a revolving fund of Rs 306 has been released so far to 11 States. In last four seasons, MFP Procurement worth Rs. 128 crore has been undertaken under the scheme coordinated through State Implementing Agency. The scheme covers all States and 23 selected MFPs. In last 4 years, MSP for MFP Scheme has provided livelihoods to 8 lakhs gatherers through MSP and training activities. Provisions are under consideration for expanding the scheme coverage to include more number of Minor forest produce under the Scheme. The Scheme also render assistance for modernization of primary market infrastructure (Haat Bazar/ NTFP fuds), establishment of storage infrastructure near to MFP collection/ aggregation center, primary/ secondary/ tertiary processing etc.

TRIFED aims to scale up the operations of the Scheme to benefit the tribal population through various interventions. For financial year 2018-19, MFP procurement worth Rs. 100 Crores is being targeted benefitting an estimated number of abour 10 lakh tribal beneficiaries. Moreover, an ambitious programme Van Dhan Vikas Kariyakram has also been conceptualized under the Scheme to integrate training on sustainable harvesting & primary level value addition.

Van Dhan Vikas Karyakram

Van Dhan Vikas Karyakram is primarily a component under the Mechanism for Marketing of Minor Forest Produce (MFP) through Minimum Support Price (MSP) & Development of Value Chain of Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA). The training component of the Scheme is proposed to be taken up in programme (Karyakram) mode to provide enhanced livelihood and income generation for tribals.

Van Dhan Vikas Karyakram is an initiative targeting livelihood generation for tribals by harnessing the wealth of forest i.e. Van Dhan. The programme aims to tap into traditional knowledge & skill sets of tribals by adding technology & IT to upgrade it at each stage and to convert the tribal wisdom into a viable economic activity.

The proposition is to set-up tribal community owned MFP-centric multi-purpose Van Dhan Vikas Kendras (the Kendra) in predominantly tribal districts. About 3000 Van Dhan Kendras are proposed to be set up in span of 2 years i.e. 1500 Kendras to be set-up in each year. Each Kendra would act as common facility centres for procurement cum value addition to locally available MFPs and skill based handicraft.

A typical Van Dhan Vikas Kendra shall constitute of 10 tribal Van Dhan Vikas Self Help Groups (SHG), each comprising of upto 30 MFP gatherers or tribal handicraft artisans i.e. about 300 beneficiaries per Kendra (subject to variability as per local conditions). Initially each SHG associated with the Kendra shall involve primary value addition of MFP items through mechanical tools such as decorticators, sickle, secateurs, cutting tools, dryers, graders etc. Subject to successful operations of the SHGs in a Kendra for period of atleast six months, the common infrastructure facilities (pucca Kendra) may be provided to the Kendra such as building, warehouse, primary processing, packaging facilities etc. for use of the SHG members.

The Van Dhan Vikas Kendras will be established around the catchment areas of the local haat bazaars, where the procurement of the MFPs shall be taken up under the MSP for MFP scheme. As per the estimation there are more than 10000 Haats in the tribal areas. Within the provisions of the scheme of MSP for MFP, it is proposed to modernize these Haat Bazaars with permanent structure and facilities for storage, drinking water, shade, platform, weighing equipment and other tools etc. The modernisation of the Haat bazaars shall be taken up in a phased manner, along with the establishment of the Van Dhan Vikas Kendras.

Efforts shall also made towards convergence of the initiative with the on-going scheme and initiatives of other Central/State level departments/ agency/ institutions such as Aajeevika Mission, Aspirational District Programme, Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), Mudra Scheme and NABARD etc.  Besides, partnership models with Banks/ PSUs/ private sector shall also be explored for their active participation and financial assistance under CSR funds.

Value addition to MFPs at grass root can play an important role in increasing tribal incomes. In addition, this activity is particularly significant for financial empowerment of tribal women as most of the MFPs are collected/ primary processed/used/sold by them. The initiative is expected to provide enhanced livelihood to about 25 lakhs tribal gatherers in the country.

Research and Development of tribal products & its commercialization

In order to mainstream the tribal products such as foods and drinks, TRIFED also facilitates   Research and Development activities for developing novel technologies on sustainable harvesting, post-harvest management and value addition to potential MFPs. The main objective of R&D activities is to identify and develop innovative products / processes / technology forsustainable harvesting, post-harvest management and value addition of MFP to ensure optimum utilization of the available MFPs, increase shelf life, reduce wastages and  and enhance tribal income through value addition.

For the purpose of R&D activities, TRIFED has tied up with various reputed institutions such as IIT Delhi, IIT Kharagpur, SRIIR, CFTRI, JUIT Solan, BIT Mesra, TERI, Amity University, IMMT Bhubaneshwar, IICT Hyderabad, ICAE Bhopal, NIT Rourkela, Sambalpur University, etc.TRIFED has also partnered with NRDC to render support for patent filing, preparation of feasibility report and commercialization of the research outcomes.

Out of the various products developed 11 are ready for commercialization including Nutrabeverage from Mahua, Karanj oiled based Sunscreen cream, liquid soap, cold cream and shaving cream, Hybrid dryer, TAM RAS (Squash developed from Tamarind, Amla and Mahua), Mahua Tamarind Candy, Chutney, Pickles from Mahua and Tamarind, Sal leaves based anticorrosive degreasing and cleaning formulation.

Workshop on Tribal Livelihood Generation

In order to enhance the livelihood & income generation opportunities for tribal, TRIFED is aiming to increase the sales of tribal products by establishing new retail outlets. The consignment/franchisee store model offers significant business opportunity for tribal entrepreneurs to partner with TRIFED for setting up outlets across India as well as oversees. Besides, entrepreneurs including start-up firms, established players and manufacturer can also associate with TRIFED under their own or Tribes India brand for commercialization of tribal food and drinks products developed with R&D support of TRIFED. Entrepreneurs interested in secondary/ tertiary level processing of MFP productsmay also tap into the network of Van Dhan Vikas Kendra & other grassroot facilities being developed under Scheme on MSP for MFP for backward integration. Also, marketing of products manufactured by such entrepreneurs may be facilitated through retail trade outlets of TRIFED including e-commerce.

In view of the above, TRIFED is organizing a workshop on ‘Eentrepreneurial opportunities for Tribal Livelihood Generation through Scheme on Minimum Support Price (MSP) for Minor Forest Produce, marketing of tribal handicraft & handlooms and research & development’ Indian Institute of Science, CV Raman Road, Malleshwaram, Bengaluru, Karnataka- 560012 on 19^th Sept 2018. The workshop is being organized in partnership with NSTFDC & DICCI. Dalit Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (DICCI) is an association committed towards building business leadership in SC/ST community by facilitating necessary business support system and skills to SC/ST youth and aspiring entrepreneurs.

The workshop is aimed to sensitize and create awareness among Scheduled Tribe entrepreneurs on scheme being implemented through TRIFED for tribal livelihood generation & inter-linking business opportunities in the sector. Various stakeholders including entrepreneurs, corporate, merchandisers, manufacturers, suppliers and vendors are expected to attend the event.

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