Govt holds workshop with states to fill gaps in MSP scheme for

The government today held a workshop with the states to identify and fill the gaps due to which a scheme to help tribals get a fair price for 'minor forest produce' remained a non-starter in many states after its launch in 2014.
The 'Minimum Support Price for Minor Forest Produce' scheme that was launched in nine states in 2014, has now been introduced in all the states.
The MSP is a form of market intervention by the government through which the price is fixed to protect forest producers against excessive fall in prices during bumper production years.
"This workshop is a step towards expanding the horizon of the scheme which is being implemented in nine states. Today it is expanded nationwide," said Union Tribal Minister Jual Oram.

The scheme till now has not been implemented properly due to the lack of participation from the state agencies, a senior ministry official said.
"The aim is to recalibrate the programme by identifying the gaps and have a pan-India coverage to provide a fair and equitable deal to tribals in their trade," the official said.

Oram further said that the MFP collection centres should also be depots of daily requirements to sell items of daily needs to the tribals.
He said that after minerals, MFP could be the largest generation of revenue. He emphasised on the use of social media and new technology to help the tribals sell their produce at best prices.

On the occasion, the Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India Limited (TRIFED), a national- level organisation under the tribal affairs ministry, also inked an MoU with e-commerce player Amazon to expand the market for tribal handicrafts via the online retail space.