Month: December 2006

by Mathew John

It has been a long seven months since work on this got underway but the dream has been a few years old. One would always have expected that a shop in Ooty, the tourist hub of this district would have seen us setting up something there first, but it has been a reverse process – Kotagiri (1999), Coonoor (2001) and now Ooty (2006). However, this is different and cool. We have a Honey & Bee Museum, a first of its kind, definitely in this part of the world. It has sections on Bee Biology, Honey Hunting, Bees of India, Beekeeping, etc. – right now, it is essentially, pictorial. We hope to add more material slowly building a database of information, so that interested folks can grasp issues in depth. The Museum section is supplemented by a children’s playroom where they can have a great time messing around with wax. Another room hopes to multi-task as a library, audiovisual and meeting room. Still a long way to go…

The inauguration was a great affair with so much support from the public and the civil administration. Mrs. Meena Gupta, Secretary to the government of India, Ministry of Tribal Affairs was there to open the Museum and took extremely keen interest in all the information displayed. This was later followed in the evening, by a brainstorm on a `National Tribal Honey Network’– most of the honey produced in our country is collection from the wild but none of it is ever acknowledged nor is the skillful activity given due recognition. Hopefully, this effort will go some way in trying to address the myriad of issues that face the adivasis.

The support from the bees is something that should not be forgotten! Yes, you read it right – five days before the inauguration, a swarm of the giant Rock Bees Apis dorsata decided to make the verandah of the museum, their home. The excitement and thrill that ran through everybody was fantastic. Their presence had to force us to change the entrance to the museum but I guess nobody bothered.

The Green Shop was inaugurated by Mr. Santosh Misra, Collector of the Nilgiris. This section will stock goods for sale not only from the projects of Keystone but from various parts of the country. However, each of the products, organisations have been selected with care. They should uphold certain ideals which have been put up as a charter in the shop – organic, fair trade, small producers, indigenous crafts – lofty ideals, maybe, but something to hold on to.

Initial support for the project has come from the green Hotel in Mysore (through the Tzedakah Trust) and the Darwin Initiative, UK.

Email: Mathew John
kf[AT]keystone-foundation.org  (replace [AT] with @)
URL: www.keystone-foundation.org

by Rex Edward dela Pena

A few years back, I had the opportunity to accompany some Fair Trade partner buyers and representatives from the US, UK and other European countries {1} to visit rural crafts communities in remote areas in Pangasinan, Abra, Bicol and Leyte. The occasion fostered a deeper trading relationship among partners. The most interesting part was listening to the moving accounts of craft stories shared by the visiting partners, expressing a plight akin to the conditions of the crafts communities in the Philippines.

It is encouraging to see how the lives of many women and men producers from third world communities have improved by engaging in crafts production as their major trade and livelihood. They have not only achieved better financial stability for their families and communities but also other seemingly insignificant non-monetary gains or what Anita L. Roddick calls as those “beyond the bounce of economic performance” {2} Indeed, a barometer in measuring the line of business ethics is not forgetting the Human Element in trading.

A cultural (ad)vantage point
In Mindoro, the crafts story has a different cultural perspective. To understand indigenous crafts, one has to have an open, patient and challenging mind and above all, a warm listening heart to fully appreciate if not to embrace and identify with the culturally-based production and trading context.

Mindoro and several outlying islands constitute the provinces of Mindoro Oriental. The chief town of the island is Calapan City (total area: 10,075 sq km; population: 282,593). Mindoro is the seventh biggest island in the Philippines with over 1 million inhabitants with close to 10% belonging to the indigenous peoples called Mangyan.

Mangyan is the generic name for the seven indigenous tribes namely; Hanunuo, Alangan, Tadyawan, Buhid, Iraya, Bangon and Tau-Buhid, each with own culture, language and customs. For the Mangyan, crafts had always been a product of their way of life and an extension of their customs and traditions. Tabud (baskets), ramit cloth, embroidery, and beaded products, to mention few, have always been produced using materials indigenous to their areas.

Nowadays, it is rare to see the younger generation of Mangyan in these attire, except perhaps when they are in their communities and during tribal feasts.

On the other hand, these products continue to be in vogue perhaps as a subdued expression of oneness with nature, if not a boredom with commercialised products. Indigenous crafts are slowly but continuously gaining recognition as a growing source of income for the Mangyans. These products will not likely fade in popularity despite attempts of preserving their unique culturally-based character and heritage.

It is a sad and myopic view to preserve a rich culture and tradition merely because it allows indigenous products a chance to survive. One way out for these culturally-based products that embodies as well the culture, tradition and aspirations of the indigenous craft folks to survive is through a “distant light in the market.” Lest invasion by other products produced under unfair labor practices, products that demean industrial peace and development both for human and environment, becomes the order of the day. Then it’s naturally treading a thin line toward a sure and gradual unnatural death for all of us and for the limited God-given resources.

The dramatic transition towards the emergence of “green and ethical products” as compared to “sympathy (with non-quality) products” is a Sign of Hope. With a more positive outlook, this development will precipitate a better chance for indigenous products as long as products are priced fairly among end market consumers, fair traders and producers.

The approach: a hard gradual change toward a distant light
The Produktong Likhang Kamay Crafts Program is espoused by the the NTFP-Task Force/CustomMade Crafts Center, the Mangyan Mission, Kapulungan ng mga Mangyan para sa Lupaing Ninuno (KPLN), and Mangyan Partner Producer Groups (MPPGs). The MPPGs are crafts producing communities assisted under the said project. Majority of members are women.

During the PLK project orientation, plans at various levels were formulated and validated at the community level, in order to map out the timeline of activities for the first year of the project {see box at right}.Understanding the context of Ancestral Domains confronting Mangyans (Section 2b of IPRA, 1997) is an issue that I have slowly recognised as an essential element in Community Enterprise Building amongst Mangyan communities alongside Fair Trading.

The Mindoro Produktong Likhang Kamay Tripartite Project entails the following components:
Capacity Building
– Development of MPPG’s skills and basic knowledge on Fair Trading practices, vis the establishment of KPLN as MPPgs trading  partner in local market development
– Development of KPLN trading system and documentary prerequisites (such as purchase order, accounts receivable, monitoring chart, delivery receipt, cash advance forms) to initiate trading with  partners and buyers alike from the receipt of the purchase order, monitoring, delivery to payment.

Organizing and Crafts Group Strengthening
– Strengthening of existing and MPPGs (in Bait, Bante, Paitan and Tadyawan) and initial core group formation for Tadyawan expansion and gathering of baseline data for 5 MPPG and monthly organisational development
– Preparation of  training for DecemberProduction and Design Development
– Monitoring of production that at times capacity of MPPG could not satisfy especially for new and not original Mangyan products
– Series of exploration for cogon production back-up that were never really satisfied (Puerto Galera, Baclayan, San Teodoro, Sentro, Paitan)
– Development and preparation of new products for Calapan Trade show and for partners and for NTFP Crafts Conference Local Marketing
– Promotion and generation of additional sales for PLK MPPg products through exploration of potential local market avenues while further developing skills of MPPG in direct selling and booth manning activities
– Sourcing of other possible venues for local market like KPLN and selected MPPG participation to the Calapan Trade Fair
– Assisting MPPG in the recent Calapan Trade Fair as preparation for local trade show in respective municipalities. Last 8-15 November that generated sales amounting to PhP27, 900
– Preparation for Sakama Bait participation for Manasalay Local Fair,  21-28 November
– A possible KPLN trade fair participation in Manila to be assisted by NCIP by end-November

Networking and Promotion
LGU technical and other financial (promotions, and booth support  from and Provincial and LGU support in partipicating in other local trade fairs (Calapan: 8-15 Nov and Mansalay: 21-28 Nov)

Planning Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation
– To strengthen project ownership  and build up harmonious working  relationship through weekly PLK updating with KPLN officers and ACS
– Mid-year PLK project updating (December 5)

Never a long trek
There are no great expectations nor killer assumptions given the context and culture – only perseverance and constant journeying – that self-reliance, which was long-awaited, may come to fruition. The NTFP Task Force/CustomMade Crafts Center remains committed to the advancement and promotion of indigenous development. That the trading relationship we are fostering with MPPGs fulfills our raison d’etre of positive social and environmental change where it is most needed. Despite the difficulty of attempting to walk together in a long dusty if not muddy crossroads and pathways, the benefits of the “trading partnership” is hard to measure. These relations transpire beyond trading, since trading is only a way, an entry point if not a vehicle towards integral development for all of us committed to crafts development.

It is also in a way a constant re-examining of our stance though in a simple but meaningful way. Only those who have given precious time despite the need for personal, social and family bonding and necessary ties will ever internalize affectively the depth and meaning of the journey that is trading crafts. The reality check is in measuring the success of these partnerships – in  how livelihoods of many people with faces and warm bodies were sustained – while helping us in the process to retain our humanness in our trading with others.

Let me show you a glimpse of a distant light. A few MPPG members are now taking more initiative to strengthen their women’s organisation. They are now benefitting from the supplementary income and have gained additional leverage for decision making. This has translated into a better opportunity to express their opinions and in confidently participating more and more in community activities that will facilitate another ripple effect.

Indeed a slow trek toward a distant light in the market, is never a long trek after all.

Endnotes:{1} From Ten Thousand Villages USA-Canada, Menonites, Eine Welt Handel, CTM, SISAM,  Oxfam GB-FT and the Bodyshop among others{2} The Bodyshop Values Report, 1996-97, p. 3,  Anita L. Roddick Obe (Chief Executive){3} The Hanunuo Mangyan script have been declared as National Cultural Treasures in 1997 and was inscribed in the Memory of the World registers of UNESCO in 1999

Contact: Rex Edward dela Pena
NTFP-Task Force/CustomMade Crafts Center
92-A Masikap Ext., Brgy. Central, Diliman, Quezon City, 1101, The Philippines  Tel/Fax: 4262757
Email: red_pena[AT]yahoo.com (replace [AT] with @)

by Madhu Ramnath

In almost all forested regions of the world, rich with various resources and inhabited by indigenous peoples, a class of middlemen has inevitably appeared. These middlemen have usually made a living by buying materials – animal skins and bones, spices, timber and other plant products – from the local people and selling them in other places. Nothing really wrong with buying and selling, at least in the initial stages: the local people receive money for things they have in abundance, and the middlemen make a profit by taking the goods where it is scarce.

The trouble, at least for the indigenous people, seems to start when the goods become scarce in places where they were once abundant. It is also trouble when a nexus of middlemen get together and control the prices that the local people get, or when the middlemen prevent local access to a truly open market. Wherever such circumstances have come to pass, there is the trend of the indigenous people moving out of the region – like the goods that were carted out before them – to eke out a livelihood. Unfortunately, this trend is quite common in many parts of the tropical world. But the loss of cultures and the magical landscapes they figured in go unnoticed in the all-pervading din over oil and the clamour for power.

Mahua and Mahua Banks
It is with the intention to reverse this trend that some indigenous people in Bastar, Chattisgarh, came together and decided to establish a Mahua Bank. To understand its significance, we need to learn what mahua is and what place it holds in indigenous society. Mahua is the name given to the tree Madhuca longifolia as well as to the flowers and the drink distilled from them. The mahua drink, which has been much abused, is traditionally used in all social and religious occasions throughout Bastar. It is consumed throughout the year in most indigenous homes; the flowers, which bloom between late February and early March, are dried and stored for sale as well as for later use. However, the lack of sufficient storage space and the need for money forces most people to sell a large part of what they seasonally gather, despite realising that within a few months they will need to go to the local middlemen, who usually double as moneylenders, to procure more mahua.

The first Mahua Bank was constructed in Kakalura, a Durva village in central Bastar. The Bank’s purpose is to buy the mahua within the village itself at the going market rate and store it through the crucial period when the people need money. This mahua was stored and sold back to the people at a marginally higher rate, the small profit considered as “storage fees.”

The two boys who managed the Bank were unused to handling large sums of money; in their first year they bought only about Rs 5000  of mahua from the village people. Despite its humble beginning, this first step demonstrated to the people what the advantages and potentials were of such a Bank within the village. They did not have to walk far with their loads in the sun, they were not cheated at the scales, payments were made immediately and, most importantly, they were treated with respect. In the three years since, the Mahua Bank at Kakalura has now graduated to buying another important NTFP of Bastar: tamarind. Over the last two years tamarind worth about Rs 1,00000 has been bought, shelled, de-seeded and packed within the village, generating some seasonal income and building confidence.

Similar Banks have been established in two other villages though their focus has not been the buying and selling of NTFPs. The Bank in Koleng has become the seed collection centre, while a group of women also deal with limited amounts of mahua. The seeds of various indigenous plant species of plants are grown in nurseries in Kakalura as well as in Kangoli. There is a Bank in Sang Karmari that buys and sells mahua alongside efforts to protect the village’s sacred grove, one of the few groves with a large diversity of species. In this manner, a small network of like-minded people has taken up NTFP-related work, through trade, regeneration and conservation of locally important spaces and species.

Though the Mahua Banks have, as yet, focused only on mahua and tamarind, the aim is to gradually increase the number of products. But before this ambition – to increase the range of available forest products for trade – is catered to, it is necessary to put some checks to control haphazard or unsustainable exploitation of resources. In the case of most indigenous communities who continue to live in deep forest areas, many of the traditional customs of forest use are adhered to. It is usually in the areas where the people have lost their forests, or where commercial forces have an overwhelming influence on community lifestyles, that the above mentioned checks are required. If this is not done, the Mahua Banks would be no different from any of the myriad enterprises whose sole aim is instant financial gain.

Obstacles
An early problem that surfaced soon after the first Bank was in operation was the middleman! A couple of them came to Kakalura and made threatening noises at a new buyer but, as they soon found out, the people of the village were undaunted. In fact, a few weeks after the middlemen’s visit the Bank in Koleng was opened. Another issue that periodically distracts the “bank managers” is the low level of profit, as much of it is diffused into the village itself through the various processing jobs. To counter this is not easy, especially when the youth concerned are also aspiring to be rich and are within easy reach of the lucrative NTFP trade!

There are no easy solutions. It is necessary to realise that Mahua Banks, though linked to the trade in NTFPs, are also much, much more. The Bank, despite its commercial front, links the many facets of NTFPs: forests and indigenous peoples, traditional management, sustainability, the dangers of over-exploitation, conservation and regeneration, income generation, local enterprise, etc. For those working in the Mahua Bank this broader scenario, that encompasses not just monetary gain but addresses the possibility of a meaningful future, needs to be gradually unveiled. Perhaps then it will be easier to discern the difference between the World Bank and the Mahua Bank!

Support for setting up the Mahua Bank in Kakalgar was provided by BothEnds, The Netherlands.

Contact: Madhu Ramnath
Legal and Environmental Action Forum (LeAF), Jagdalpur, Bastar District, Chattisgarh, India
Email: madelly[AT]gmail.com (replace [AT] with @)

Since its inception, the NTFP Exchange Programme maintains informal contacts with scientists in relevant disciplines, not only in South and Southeast Asia but in the other parts of the globe. In recent years, the EP felt the need to intensify this collaboration through the establishment of a ‘Virtual Academy.’

The idea of a Virtual Academy or VA first sprung up at the end of 2003 during brainstorming sessions with NGOs and representatives from the academe in Indonesia and in the Philippines. In these sessions, it was agreed that the VA will be constituted of a group of eminent scholars and “practical academicians,” who are devoted to making their skills work for local initiatives directed at promoting community-based sustainable forest use and management.

It is aptly called “virtual” in the sense that it does not need to maintain offices, structures and the like. That its core members share common values – most important of which is truly wanting to help forest-based communities to build their capacities – is what binds this loose group of NTFP specialists.

Since the onset, the VA is envisioned to:
– maintain linkages with other scientists/institutes;
– assist in the writing of position papers on key issues;
– contribute to international conservation and development discourse;
– support the translation of grass root needs into concrete directions for future research agenda;
– facilitate individual members to act as resource persons for specific activities; and – provide inputs to customized training programs for NGO field staff.

The VA fellows and NTFP-EP have thought of preparing training courses/modules for partners in the network with the objective of establishing a basic course for practitioners, field personnel working on NTFP management. This course would be supplemented with more specific topic-based courses. Considering the dearth of relevant, customized, community-centered training programs available, this idea seems timely and useful for local practitioners.

The year 2006 signaled the reinforcement and further strengthening of the Virtual Academy’s mandate and its aforementioned dream as the beautiful resort-type facilities of the Eugenio Lopez Center in Antipolo City, Philippines (a hillside town about an hour’s drive outside Manila) paid host to this year’s VA Meeting held on 5-6 June 2006.

The meeting was participated in by VA fellows: Dr. Mary Stockdale of the Canada-based NGO Land and People Information Sharing (LAPIS) and author of Steps to Sustainable and Community-based NTFP Management: A manual written with special reference to South and Southeast Asia; Dr. Patricia Shanley, of the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and People and Plants International (PPI); Mr. Ridzki Sigit of Telapak, Indonesia; Ms. Ma. Theresa Padilla-de Guia of AnthroWatch Philippines, and the NTFP-EP Secretariat, led by its Executive Director, Mr. Jenne de Beer.

The group revisited the concept of the VA. A review of the curriculum of academic institutions offering NTFP courses (Royal Roads University-Canada and the Indigenous Peoples College in Davao City, Philippines) was also undertaken to provide a broad perspective on what distinct features could be adopted by the VA in its own training courses.

Prior to the meeting, a questionnaire was formulated and sent out to EP partners to consolidate their training needs, and to serve as an integral input in the development of NTFP courses. Responses highlighted the glaring and immediate capacity building needs that are country specific; existing training providers identified for certain identified topics/themes which need attention; and proposed modules to be developed which have been grouped into nine training themes:
– NTFP certification
– Processing/post-harvest/product development
– Marketing/business managementw Resource Management
– Identification/prioritization of NTFPs for communities
– Cultural aspects/knowledge and traditional use of resources
– Capacity building/institutional management/organisational development
– Advocacy/negotiation/resource access
– Sustainable livelihood planning and management

While the VA fellows who were present at the meeting are considered to be experts in the areas of resource management, advocacy, certification, cultural aspects, the themes on business management, marketing, product development, and enterprise development emerged as the top priority among partners. In response to this, an enterprise development committee was formed comprising of NTFP-EP partners known to have inimitable familiarity on these topics.

Future plans carved out during the meeting included publications to be released, intended workshops/conferences to be attended to by the members and prioritization of capacity-building programs for EP partners. Preparatory activities are making headway for the ecological monitoring training for India partners in November as well as the upcoming plans to go to Mexico and Brazil for the workshops on sustainable management of NTFPs in Latin America.

For more information on the Virtual Academy, contact the NTFP-EP secretariat at info[AT]ntfp.org

by Nabaghan Ojha

The forest sector in Orissa plays an important role in the economy, culture and livelihood of a large number of forest dependent poor and it represents a huge economic resource for the State. It has rich potential of various NTFPs, which are important sources of livelihood for the forest dependent population.

Some facts and figures
•    Orissa accounts for 7.38% of the total forest cover in India.
•    22 % of its population belong to scheduled tribes.
•    40% area of the state comes under Scheduled V.
•    For poor up to 50 per cent of annual income comes from forest.
•    The total annual volume of NTFP trade was estimated at about Rs. 1,000 crore in the state.
•    The total women labour engaged in the collection of forest produce in Orissa is as high as 300 million woman days.

Unfortunately for quite sometime the trade of NTFP was monopolised mostly by private business houses who were granted lease on a long term basis to procure certain forest produces from specific forest divisions. Such monopoly trade arrangement created problems of low payment to tribals, erratic and arbitrary procurement, and revenue loss to the state. Therefore, in order to streamline the system of collection and disposal of NTFP, and to follow the mandate of the Provisions of Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas Act 2006 (PESA), 1996, the State Government came out with a new policy guideline on 31.03.2000. The policy gave ownership rights over Minor Forest Produce (MFP) to the Gram Panchayat  (GP) not only in scheduled areas but also in the entire State. Provisions under the new NTFP Policy/regulations exclude high value NTFP like Kendu leaf (Diospyros melanoxylon), Sal seed (Shorea robusta) and bamboo (Bambusa vulgaris) from the list of deregulated items. The state continued to manage these items, as these are the nationalised NTFP. In March 2006 Sal seed was deregulated and brought under the purview of GP. By now the total items of MFP devolved to GP are 69.

More than six years have already been passed since the new governance system in the state has been operational. These new systems are hardly working in tribal dominated areas due to lack of capacities at the level of Panchayat functionaries to decide the price structure and handle necessary market linkages for fair trading of the NTFP. On the other hand, the primary gatherers being little aware of the price system due to inadequate communication on price fixation continue to be exploited in the hands of petty traders, who often pay a token advance to the tribals for procuring NTFP at a cheaper price during production seasons, and also insist on barter systems for a good gain. Although the poor forest dwellers including the tribal depend heavily on the NTFP for their livelihood they are in no way influence either the policies or the trade environment. The ultimate result is although they work hard to collect and process the NTFP they are being paid miserably low as compensation. Moreover the polices and rules concerning NTFP management, which is identified as the main source of income and as safety net for poor by a number of researches, have not been able to bring any significant change in the livelihood system of the poor forest dependent poor.

Possible options for strengthening forest based livelihood
There is a need for collective intervention by the civil society organisations, business houses, financial institutions and the government to address various issues in NTFP management and trade. The most important intervention should be to build up the capacity and information base of the primary collectors and the Gram Panchayats on management and trade of NTFP. At the same time priority of intervention has to be given to forest protection, quality production of NTFP, value added products instead of raw NTFP, market promotion and market development etc.

RCDC with its decade of experience in forest sector has been able to come out with some possible options, which could be experimented in other parts of the country.

Gram Panchayat
After 2000 Gram Panchayat has emerged as the most vibrant institution to own, control and manage a majority of NTFP (69 items). Although GPs are not supposed to undertake the trade they would control the entire trade in their area. They would work towards establishing community-based management of NTFP. If the GPs are interested they can also directly get involved in the trade through collaboration with different marketing institutions in the state.

The role of GP in effective management and trade of NTFP should be as follows:
•    Power to make rules and regulations for control and management of NTFP and also to impose tax/levy/cess on different NTFP
•    Power to decide which NTFP to be harvested and not to be harvested
•    Power to decide who would be given right to harvest the produce
•    Regulate the implementation of rules and take appropriate measures for changes in these rules and regulation
•    Cancellation of licenses of different traders or agencies involved in procurement and trade of NTFP or restrict any trader from procurement of NTFP from the area because of violation of rules/norms
•    Create awareness among the members of Gram Sabha on rules and regulations for management of NTFP
•    Implement these rules and regulation
•    Collection of taxes for traders/enterprises
•    Maintain proper accounting and book keeping system and develop human resource capacity of the Gram Panchayats/Sabhas to manage NTFP properly

Market promotion board
Floating the concept of promoting a marketing promotion board at the district level is a unique attempt, which has emerged during discussions at various fora during its interventions. The concept is being shared with different stakeholders in the areas. Efforts have been made to present a probable structure and function of a district level organisation to deal with NTFP, which would form the basis for debate among various stakeholders. It has been successfully constituted in some districts and smoothly functioning.  The board has been able to organise traders meet in their areas to sell the NTFP collected by the primary collectors.

Goals of market promotion initiatives at the district level
•    To support NTFP gatherers/primary collectors and their organisations to overcome constraints both within business and wider trade environment
•    To create conducive environment for the primary collectors and their organisations for sustainable management of NTFP and participate in socially responsible trading process
•    To provide innovative, need-based market solutions to primary NTFP gatherers

Structure
The market promotion board or committee may be constituted with the representations of Government officials such as District Collector, Divisional Forest Officer, etc, financial institutions, Panchayat Raj Instituions, Civil society organizations, Market promotion agencies, Traders, Associations, representatives of processing industries etc.

Function
The major functions of the market promotion board may be as follows;
•    To frame guidelines for sustainable management of NTFP and also develop quality control mechanism
•    To develop price fixation guideline in order to help Panchayat Samities to fix the prices of MFP and should also monitor and regulate the prices offered by the traders to the primary collectors
•    To help GPs to regulate the operation of traders in their area
•    Develop a plan of action for conservation, management and trade of NTFP
•    Suggest necessary changes policies, programmes and practices for conservation of the resource and better returns to the primary collectors and producers
•    Negotiate with traders/ buyers/ industries etc for marketing of NTFP and establish linkages between the primary collectors’ organisations and traders/industries. If need be necessary steps may be taken for buy back arrangements
•    Develop a guideline for sustainable harvesting and regeneration of species
•    Undertake or facilitate research and development for conservation of species, value addition and product development

Cooperative approach
Cooperatives have been identified as the best possible option for NTFP enterprises and trade. Cooperatives are the federated bodies of the village level institutions like Self Help Groups (SHGs), Forest Protection Committees (FPCs) etc. These institutions have been sensitized on issues in NTFP management and trade and they have been exposed in different  options for collective procurement and trade to eliminate the exploitative practices followed by the local traders. Around 20 institutions have been targeted while forming the cooperatives. Once the cooperatives are formed, members oriented and they have gotten themselves engaged in collective procurement and trade, the process of formation of apex cooperatives are initiated which could monitor the exploitation of resources and conservation protocols, develop business plan for NTFP procurement and trade etc.

Functions of cooperatives
•    Procurement, processing and storage of different forest and agricultural produces
•    Educating the primary collectors on good harvesting practices and conservation issues
•    Monitoring the harvesting and conservation protocols
•    Managing the enterprises on forest and agricultural produces.
•    Running the fair prices shops
•    Working closely with respective gram panchayats for management and trade of NTFPs

Contact:
Mr. Nabaghan Ojha
Programme Officer, RCDC Centre for Forestry and Governance
Bhubaneswar, Orissa, India
Tel- 91-9437184834
Email: nojhabbsr@yahoo.com, rcdccfg@sancharnet.in