NEW DELHI: Betel nut, also called Kwai in Khasi, which is a culture across the North East, is set to get the minimum support price (MSP) along with other forest produce such as jackfruit, mushroom and cashew.
The Centre, on Friday, included the above-mentioned commodities in the list of forest produce to be allotted MSP apart from others announced earlier.
The Ministry of Tribal Affairs announced inclusion of 23 additional minor forest produce (MFP) and stipulation of their MSP under the centrally sponsored scheme titled “Mechanism for Marketing of Minor Forest Produce (MFP)”. This will also help in the value chain of such produce in remote and difficult regions.
The other minor forest produce of the Northeastern region, which will get MSP are King Chilli (Capsicum chinense Jacq), black rice and Johar rice, mustard, and tamarind.
The increase is also expected to provide an immediate and much-needed momentum to procurement of minor tribal produce across all states including the North East, which has abundant forests.
The decision of enhancing the coverage from 50 to 73 per cent in the MSP comes in view of the exceptional and very difficult circumstances currently prevailing in the country on account of the COVID-19 pandemic, official sources said. This will provide the required support to the tribal forest gatherers.
The increase across various items of MFP ranged from 16 to 66 per cent (in some cases such as Giloe, the increase has been up to 190 per cent). The increase is also expected to provide an immediate and much-needed momentum to procurement of minor tribal produce across all states, the sources said.
In total, 14 of the newly added items, otherwise agricultural produce, are not commercially grown in the North East, but are found to grow in the wild in forests for which the ministry included these specific items as MFP items for the region.
The ministry has also provided flexibility to states to fix MSP up to 10 per cent higher or lower than price declared by the government. The step is aimed to address several issues of exploitation by local traders, ensuring fair returns on their produce.
