Jharkhand pilot project for market linkage of forest produces in Simdega 

Meeting with BIPP-ISB to facilitate product aggregation and marketability 

Jamshedpur, February 21: Pilot project to nurture market linkage for forest produces has begun in the Simdega district. 

The ambitious project of chief minister Hemant Soren which began in January 2020 less than a month old in office, had Hemant Soren approaching Indian School of Business (ISB) Hyderabad to propose a cluster-based strategy for development of forest economy in the state. Based on research on the current scale and future potential of existing value chains, the team of researchers from ISB, proposed an institutional design to facilitate sustainable forest management, value addition, and industrial procurement of seasonal forest products.

During the second anniversary function of Hemant Soren led Jharkhand government on December 29 last year, the tribal welfare department had signed an MoU with the Bharti Institute of Public Policy at Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad, to develop scalable and sustainable solutions focussing on forest-based industrial value chains.
“The forest plays a central role in the culture, tradition and means of livelihood of the tribal community.  A strong bond has existed between the two for centuries. Despite this, people never get a fair price for the minor forest produce they collect. Following this step, the tribal communities will be able to secure their livelihood by selling forest produce in an organized manner.  Jharkhand government is working towards establishing such a market as well as developing a policy around it. The MoU signed between the State Government and the Bharti Institute of Public Policy of the Indian School of Business in order to develop an action plan for establishing a secure and systematic market for huge quantities of Sal, Lac, Tamarind, Mahua, Chironji,  produced in Jharkhand has started showing results,” said a communique from state public relation department. 
Under the directive of Chief Minister Hemant Soren, tribal communities will be able to get a fair price for the forest produce.  This initiative will bring about happiness in the lives of villagers who depend on forest produce for their livelihood.
A pilot project to provide a market for forest produce has started in Simdega.  Deputy Commissioner Simdega Sushant Gaurav had a meeting with the representatives of Indian School of Business Hyderabad for its successful implementation.This project will be later extended  to other districts like Simdega where forest produce is available in large quantities.  
“The tribal community and other villagers depend on the forest produce for additional income and maintaining their livelihood,” added the communique. 

 Forest produce is the main source of additional income for the tribal community.  They use various plants, leaves of trees, flowers, fruits and seeds, mushroom, tuber-root etc. for their livelihood and they also earn from various types of grass, oil, gum, lacquer etc. People living inside or near the forest earn more than twenty-five percent of their income by selling forest produce.  The villagers sell various products such as leaf bowls and datvan made from the Sakhuwa tree, oils made using seeds of various trees such as Mahua, Karanj, Kusum, Neem, Sakhua etc.  The pilot project is aimed at improving the use of available resources in order to improve the economy in rural areas.