Team News Riveting
The Ministry of Tribal Affairs has revised the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for the minor forest produce (MFP) and has included 14 additional items in the list.
The move is in continuation with its earlier efforts to provide remunerative and fair prices to tribal collectors of forest produce. This recommendation of additional items is over and above the previous notification issued on May 26, 2020 (in which the list had been revised to include 23 MFPs) and May 1, 2020 in which the MSP revisions for the MFPs were announced.
The additional produce included in the list comprise Mahul Leaves (Bauhinia Vahlli), largely produced in the states of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal. The collectors would get Rs 15 for a kilogram of Mahul leaves used for making cups and plates used exclusively during the community feasts and rituals. The stem fibre is used for making ropes, basketry and wickerwork.
The root and bark have medicinal properties. Seeds of the plant are eaten both raw and fried. Mahul leaves are available for collection around 9-10 months in a year, making it an almost year around livelihood option. The leaves are collected by local tribal people.
Over the past year, due to the unprecedented crisis caused by the ongoing pandemic, the lives and livelihoods of people across all segments, and in particular, the disadvantaged tribals, across the country have been severely disrupted. At such a time, the ‘Mechanism for Marketing of Minor Forest Produce (MFP) through Minimum Support Price (MSP) and Development of Value Chain for MFP’ has come as a beacon of change.
Conceptualised and implemented by TRIFED in association with State Government Agencies across 21 states of the country, the scheme has emerged as a source of great relief for tribal gatherers injecting more than Rs 3000 crore directly in the tribal economy since April 2020. This has been possible mainly due to the Government push and active participation from the States and has provided much needed liquidity in the tribal ecosystem, much needed in the adverse times.
