Measures mooted to strengthen marketing facilities for tribal products

Visakhapatnam: Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of the Girijan Cooperative Corporation (GCC) T Baburao Naidu has appealed to people to consume the forest produce so as to help boost tribal economy and raise living standards of tribal people.

Putting forth the ideas and plans at a State-level advocacy workshop on implementation of Minimum Support Price (MSP) for Minor Forest Produce (MFP) held on Tuesday, Baburao mentioned that the Girijans were getting MSP for only five products so far and the government is committed to ensure it for the remaining products as well.

A joint collaboration of Girijan Co-operative Corporation Ltd and Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED), the workshop saw participation of TRIFED, NABARD and NGO representatives, GCC staff and farmers from tribal areas.

Officials mentioned that except Araku coffee that has a global presence, the rest of the tribal produce has miles to go to make their presence felt in the marketplace. Citing examples, they urged the tribals to adopt right marketing techniques and enhance their reach.

"It is very important to devise effective marketing strategies for tribal produce. Only then the livelihood of the tribals will be enhanced," stated G. Lakshmisha, Project Officer of the Integrated Tribal Development Agency, Parvathipuram.

Divisional Forest Officer, Visakhapatnam C. Selvam called for a collective effort for tribal economy uplift. Besides adopting sustainable harvesting techniques, officials also laid emphasis on strengthening the reach of the tribal products and ensuring their presence in e-commerce market too.