The Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA)'s plan to introduce a Minimum Support Price (MSP) mechanism for 13 items of minor forest produce (MFP) has been approved by the Planning Commission.
Sources in the Ministry told The Hindu that a detailed financial proposal would be sent to the Expenditure Finance Committee of the Finance Ministry by June 7 after which it would go to the Cabinet. Union Minister Kishore Chandra Deo, who is piloting the scheme, would like a MSP Commission to be set up by January 2013, the sources said.
The plan to introduce MSP for minor forest produce is being described in government circles as the next MGNREGS (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme) as it has the potential to transform the lives of 100 million forest dwellers, a majority of whom are tribals and whose livelihoods depend on the collection and marketing of MFPs.
The proposal, the sources said, had reached this stage after a great deal of resistance from sections of the bureaucracy, especially those in the Forest Departments of various States, and after two committees, one headed by agricultural economist T. Haque and another by Planning Commission member-secretary Sudha Pillai, gave their reports on the issue.
MFP have significant social and economic value for tribal communities as they not only provide essential food, medicines and other consumption items but also cash income. The estimated value of the 13 major MFPs at the first purchase point is worth about Rs. 3600 crore annually, of which tendu and bamboo alone account for Rs. 2000 crore, according to the Haque Report.
The MFPs that will be covered by the scheme will be tendu, bamboo, mahua flower, mahua seeds, sal leaves, sal seeds, lac, chironji, wild honey, myrobalan, tamarind, gums and karanj.
The scheme, a Ministry document says, will help provide better prices to the MFP gatherers, who now receive a pittance, exploited as they are by local traders and other vested interests; it will also ensure sustainable harvesting of MFPs.
The proposed MFP Commission will be an autonomous body under the MoTA. The scheme envisages undertaking procurement and marketing operations at pre-fixed MSP for selected MFP by designated State agencies and providing financial assistance to the States for these operations and subsidies if necessary. The Commission will link the MSP to minimum wages paid under the NREGS, transportation cost for the tribals to push the produce in the market, value addition to the produce and local market prices. The MSP of each item would be reviewed annually. The MoTA, the Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India and State institutions will be strengthened suitably to implement the scheme.
