Procurement and Marketing of Minor Forest Produce in Tribal Areas

Tribals constitute the poorest among the poor. The Production and sale of Minor Forest Produce provides sustenance for them. Formerly they were subjected to exploitation by the village merchant and moneylender. The Corporations were set-up by State Governments to help the tribals to get a better price for their produce. The GCC in Andhra Pradesh and TDCC in Orissa are entrusted with the task. It is known that the tribals in Orissa are much poorer than the tribals in Andhra Pradesh. This study seeks to evaluate the outcomes of the efforts of GCC in Andhra Pradesh and TDCC in Orissa. Both these organizations undertake the tasks of improving credit performance, supplying domestic requirements of tribals at reasonable prices and enhancing value addition of the MFP by processing. This is a comparative study of GCC and TDCC. The stsudy is based on secondary data drawn from the documents of TDCC and GCC, and field studies of eight tribal villages in GCC area and four in TDCC area. Th