10 Mini-TRIFOOD units have been proposed and four honey FPOs have been allocated, in conjunction with the Ministry of Agriculture
A meeting of a delegation of TRIFED led by MD, TRIFED Pravir Krishna was recently held with Chief Minister of Assam, Himanta Biswa Sarma in New Delhi. The objective of the meeting was to identify the contours of setting up a comprehensive VanDhan network of 7000 Van Dhan Self-Help Groups subsumed under 350 VDVKCs, five TRIFOOD Tribal Food Parks and a digital marketing network.
TRIFED and the State Government of Assam will develop an enterprise model for VanDhan Yojana incorporating components of forwarding linkages including setting up of common facilities at district HQs for handling/packaging, testing, Demonstration centres for minor forest produces/ silk/ lac/ agri produces, cluster level tertiary processing units, marketing and branding. The initiatives will be implemented in convergence with the Ministry of Tribal affairs, TRIFED, Govt of Assam, MSME, MoFPI and MoRD. The presentation spoke in detail about these plans.
In addition, TRIFED has proposed to develop a marketing and logistics plan for promoting tribal products from the North-East Region where it plans to empanel more than 4,000 artisans and identify tribal products which can be registered under Geographical Indication having a proposed budget of Rs 150 crore.
TRIFED has entered into MoU with different ministries wherein convergences are proposed to further develop the value chain for the established Van Dhan Vikas Kendra Clusters. Currently in Assam, under convergence with MSME Ministry, 100 pieces of training have been identified. Under the SFURTI scheme, two proposals are under development. In convergence with MoFPI, 10 Mini-TRIFOOD units have been proposed and four honey FPOs have been allocated, in conjunction with the Ministry of Agriculture.
Marketing and logistics development for promoting tribal products from North Eastern Region will be implemented across all the eight North Eastern States including Assam. Through that TRIFED will procure tribal products worth Rs 6.625 crore from over 250 tribal suppliers in the next year. The products will be sold through the chain of Tribes India outlets.
There are plans to set up new Tribes India outlets in the major cities/towns of Assam. A Tribal Mall is being planned to be opened to promote tribal artisans and create brand recognition for the heritage products that the tribals produce. To preserve the tribal heritage and generate local employment, at the same time protecting the interests of tribal producers, TRIFED is also working towards promoting Geographical Indication products in Assam. 11 new products have been identified for GI tagging and more tribal suppliers will be supported to register as authorised users.
