In a multi-pronged initiative to buy minor forest produce from tribal people right at their doorstep, thereby augmenting their income and increasing the volume of its business, the Girijan Cooperative Corporation (GCC), Bhadrachalam division, rolled out a van to reach out to Adivasis in remote tribal tracts of the Bhadrachalam Agency.
The GCC has introduced the van on a pilot basis in the division.
The move gains significance in the wake of the gradual drop in the number of tribal people visiting the weekly markets popularly called ‘shandies’ in the Agency due to multiple factors including dwindling forest cover and escalating cost of transportation.
The GCC has pressed into service a van equipped with an electronic weighing scale and publicity material in the remote corners of Charla and other tribal sub-plan mandals in Bhadrachalam division in the midst of the ‘Mahua’ (Ippa Puvvu) flower collection season.
Tribals living in the forest fringe areas in Bhadrachalam Agency depend on Mahua flowers and seeds as a source of supplementary income. The two major items of the minor forest produce have huge demand in the market for their economic value. The GCC is offering a minimum support price of ₹20 a kg for mahua flowers and ₹15.50 a kg for mahua seeds.
