The Hindu Business Line : Call for national board, policy for non-wood forest produce

THERE is a need for setting up a national board for non-wood forest produce (NWFP) as well as a national policy for the procurement, pricing and marketing of such produce, said Mr A. Vidyasagar, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of the Girijan Co-operative Corporation (GCC).

At a press meet here on Sunday, Mr Vidyasagar said that seven major States agree on this issue and Central officials also seem to be in favour of it. This was the consensus arrived at a national seminar on non-wood forest produce organised earlier this month in the National Institute of Rural Development (NIRD), Hyderabad. The GCC and the NIRD had jointly conducted the seminar, he added.

He said Andhra Pradesh procures 60 varieties of such produce from Girijans and pays the highest price.

"But the neighbouring States of Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh are paying much less. As a result, the Girijans from those States are also selling to the GCC. This is creating some problems. There is a need for a uniform procurement and pricing policy. There should be a national agency such as a board for the purpose." Mr Vidyasagar said there is a proposal to set up a national trust fund with a corpus of Rs 500-1,000 crore for the purpose. Export of these products could be taken at the national level under a single brand, he said.

The procurement of forest produce should also be considered as a sort of food-for-work programme, as it is aimed at providing food security to Girijans.

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