Union Minister Shri. Jual Oram today laid a statement on the table of the House, in Lok Sabha that the Ministry of Tribal Affairs implements Pradhan Mantri Janjatiya Vikas Mission (PMJVM) scheme through Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India Limited (TRIFED) for livelihood generation of the tribal beneficiaries across the country. Under the scheme, the Ministry notifies Minimum Support Price (MSP) for Minor Forest Produce (MFPs) and provides revolving funds to State Governments for procurement of MFPs at the notified MSP. The component aims to provide fair prices to the tribal gatherers for their efforts in collection, primary processing, storage, transportation etc. The funds generated from the sale of procured MFPs are deposited back in the revolving funds by the State Governments. Initially starting from 10 MFPs in 2013-14, the list has now expanded to 87 MFPs. The list of 87 MFPs for which the Ministry has notified the MSP is given at Annexure-I. Till date, the Ministry has released an amount of Rs. 319.65 crores to State Governments for MFP procurement at MSP. Additionally, under the PMJVM scheme, financial support is also provided to the State Governments for setting up each Van Dhan Vikas Kendras (VDVKs) which are primarily clusters of tribal SHGs formed to reap economies of scale through value addition and marketing of MFPs / non-MFPs. Each VDVK consists of around 15 Van Dhan SHGs and have up to 300 members.

Since 2019-20, an amount of Rs. 61,212.7 lakhs have been sanctioned for establishment of 4,125 VDVKs associating 12.33 lakh tribal members across the country under the erstwhile scheme of ‘Mechanism for Marketing of Minor Forest Produce (MFP) through “Minimum Support Price (MSP) and Development of Value Chain for MFP’ (till 2021-22) and Pradhan Mantri Janjatiya Vikas Mission (PMJVM). Additionally, under the Pradhan Mantri Janjati Adivasi Nyaya MahaAbhiyaN (PM JANMAN) scheme for the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs), an amount of Rs. 2,298.05 lakhs have been sanctioned for establishment of 539 VDVKs associating 0.46 Lakh members.

The steps being undertaken by TRIFED to address various challenges in the implementation of PMJVM including low demand for its products are as under:

Timely disposal of procured MFPs: State Implementing Agencies (SIAs) are mandated to dispose of/sell the procured MFPs within six months of procurement, in order to prevent quality deterioration and reduce carrying costs.

Value addition and processing: Value addition, branding, and packaging of MFPs are carried out through Van Dhan Vikas Kendras (VDVKs), thereby enhancing product quality, marketability, and price realization for tribal producers. MFP value addition activities are actively taking place at most of the operational VDVKs for products such as Mahua (Laddu, Chikki and oil), Tamarind (Cake and Pickle), Harra (Churan and Dry powder), Bamboo (Furniture, Pickle, Wine, Broom, Mug, Cup, ring etc.)

Marketing of finished products: The finished value-added products are marketed through TRIFED’s “TRIBES India” outlets and online eCommerce portals such as tribesindia.com, Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), Amazon, Flipkart etc. with a view to expanding market reach and improving demand for tribal products.

Capacity Building: TRIFED also undertakes capacity building training of VDVK members for primary processing, value addition, enterprise development etc.

No proposal has been received for Wayanad Lok Sabha Constituency for procurement of MFPs at Minimum Support Price under the PMJVM scheme.

As of now there is no proposal to expand the network of TRIFED retail outlets. TRIFED presently operates through its retail chain network of 116 Tribes India outlets across the country, which includes 101 own stores, 09 franchise stores and 06 consignments outlets out of which 5 Tribes India outlets are in the state of Kerala (Ernakulam, Wayanad, Kochi, Cochin, Thiruvanathapuram) including one (01) at Ennuru Heritage Village in Wayanad.

Under the PMJVM scheme, financial support is provided to the State Governments for setting up Van Dhan Vikas Kendras (VDVKs) which are primarily clusters of tribal SHGs formed to reap economies of scale through value addition and marketing of MFPs / non-MFPs. Each VDVK consists of around 15 Van Dhan SHGs and have up to 300 members. Since 2019-20, an amount of Rs. 61,212.7 lakhs have been sanctioned for establishment of 4,125 VDVKs associating 12.33 lakh tribal members across the country under the erstwhile scheme of ‘Mechanism for Marketing of Minor Forest Produce (MFP) through “Minimum Support Price (MSP) and Development of Value Chain for MFP’ (till 2021-22) and Pradhan Mantri Janjatiya Vikas Mission (PMJVM). Additionally, under the Pradhan Mantri Janjati Adivasi Nyaya MahaAbhiyaN (PM JANMAN) scheme for the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs), an amount of Rs. 2,298.05 lakhs have been sanctioned for establishment of 539 VDVKs associating 0.46 Lakh members.

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