VAN DHAN, TRIFOOD AND FRIENDS OF TRIBES SCHEMES

Ministry of Tribal Affairs launched many schemes to improve socio – economic and livelihood opportunities for Tribal of India, namely Van Dhan, TRIFOOD and Friends of Tribes schemes.

About

• Union Minister of Tribal Affairs has launched and expanded the scope of many ambitious schemes at a National Workshop organized by TRIFED under Ministry of Tribal Affairs. These schemes are:
– Van Dhan: The scheme for Minimum Support Price (MSP) for Minor Forest Produce (MFP)   Scheme and Development of Value Chain of MFP.
– TRIFOOD project
– Friends of Tribes schemes

• The tribals presently get only 20 – 30% of the value chain of the Minor Forest Produces. With the implementation of Van Dhan Scheme covering 50 items from MFP, this share will be raised to 70 to 80%.

Minor Forest Produce (MFP)

• These are all non-timber forest produce of plant origin and includes bamboo, brushwood, stumps, canes, Tusser, cocoon, honey, waxes, Lac, tendu/kendu leaves, medicinal plants and herbs, roots, tuber and the like.

• Significance of MFP: 100 million forest dwellers in India are dependent upon MFPs for food, shelter, medicines and cash income.

• The Van Dhan Scheme is an initiative of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs and TRIFED. It was launched on 14th April, 2018 and seeks to improve tribal incomes through value addition of tribal products.

• Implementation of the Van Dhan Scheme:
– Under Van Dhan, 10 Self Help Groups of 30 Tribal gatherers are constituted.
– It is proposed to set up almost 6000 Van Dan Vikas Kendras comprising 300 tribal gatherers   each in the Country providing employment to almost 45 Lakh tribals.
– At State level, the State Nodal Agency for MFPs and the District collectors are envisaged to   play a pivot role in scheme implementation at grassroots level.
– At unit level, aggregation of produce would be done by SHGs having about 30 members each forming Van Dhan Vikas ‘Samuh’.
– Processing of Produce: The stock after primary processing shall be supplied by the SHGs to   the State Implementing Agencies or direct tie up for supply to corporate secondary processor.
– Big Corporates shall be involved under PPP model.

TRIFOOD Project

• It is a joint initiative of Ministry of Food Processing Industry, Ministry of Tribal Affairs and TRIFED.

• Under this scheme, a tertiary value addition centre will be set up in Jagdalpur in Chhattisgarh and Raigad in Maharashtra.

• The traditional Mahua tribal drink will be mainstreamed and marketed all over the Country under this project.

Friends of Tribe Scheme

• An initiative of the Ministry of Tribal Affair, TRIFED has tied up Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds to promote tribal livelihoods.

• Socially oriented Public Sector Organisations like BPCL and IOCL are supporting financially for promoting Van Dhan operations in many districts of Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh.
Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India Limited (TRIFED)

• It is a statutory body established in 1987. Now, it derives its power to function from Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act 2002.

• Objectives: Institutionalizing the trade of Minor Forest Produce (MFP) and Surplus Agriculture Produce (SAP) collected/cultivated by tribal as tribals are heavily dependent on these natural products for their livelihood.

• Concerns: However, they did not use to get remunerative prices due to the existence of middle-men and unscrupulous traders exploiting the naiveté of Tribals.

• TRIFED also works as an agency to the Food Corporation of India for procurement of Wheat and Rice.

Mahua Drink

• Bhil tribal in western Madhya Pradesh and tribals of North Maharashtra consider the Mahua tree and the Mahua drink as part of their cultural heritage.

• The main ingredients used for making it are chhowa gud (granular molasses) and dried mahua flowers