Pradhan Mantri Van Dhan Yojana (PMVDY)

Pradhan Mantri Van Dhan Yojana (PMVDY) is a retail marketing led value addition plan for Minor Forest Produce (MFP), meant for forest-based tribes to optimize the tribal income, locally.
Under the program, MFP-based tribal groups / enterprises of around 300 members are formed for collection, value addition, packaging & marketing of Minor Forest Produces (MFPs).
It is an initiative of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs and TRIFED.

‘Minor Forest Produce (MFP)’ means all non-timber forest produce of plant origin and will include bamboo, canes, fodder, leaves, gums, waxes, dyes, resins and many forms of food including nuts, wild fruits, Honey, Lac, Tusser etc. The Minor Forest Produces provide both subsistence and cash income for people who live in or near forests.
A number of people from Scheduled Tribes and other forest-dwelling communities depend on the collection and sale of such items for their livelihood.
The Minor Forest Produce has significant economic and social value for the forest dwellers as an estimated 100 Million people derive their source of livelihood from the collection and marketing of Minor Forest Produce (Report of the National Committee on Forest Rights Act, 2011).

These tribal enterprises will be in the form of Van Dhan Self Help Groups which will be a group of 15-20 members and such 15 SHG groups will further be federated into a larger group of Van Dhan Vikas Kendras (VDVKS) of around 300 members.
TRIFED will support the VDVKs through providing them with model business plans, processing plans & tentative list of equipment for carrying out the value addition work of MFPs.

The Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED) came into existence in 1987. It is a national-level apex organization functioning under the administrative control of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.
TRIFED has its Head Office located in New Delhi and has a network of 13 Regional Offices located at various places in the country.

The ultimate objective of TRIFED is socio-economic development of tribal people in the country by way of marketing development of the tribal products such as metal craft, tribal textiles, pottery, tribal paintings and pottery on which the tribals depend heavily for a major portion of their income.
TRIFED acts as a facilitator and service provider for tribes to sell their product.
The approach by TRIFED aims to empower tribal people with knowledge, tools and pool of information so that they can undertake their operations in a more systematic and scientific manner.
It also involves capacity building of the tribal people through sensitization, formation of Self Help Groups (SHGs) and imparting training to them for undertaking a particular activity.

In Jawadhu Hills, Tiruvannamalai district, Tamil Nadu, the Van Dhan tribal start-ups programme, a component of the the ‘Mechanism for Marketing of Minor Forest Produce (MFP) through Minimum Support Price (MSP) & Development of Value Chain for MFP’ Scheme, has emerged as a major source of employment for the local tribals.

Jawadhu hills is an extension of the Eastern Ghats situated in the Tiruvannamalai district of Tamil Nadu.
The Malayali tribal people constitute 92.60% of the total population in this block and their mainstay is through the non-timber forest produce and a variety of trees grown on this patta land such as tamarind, jackfruit, coconut, lemon and plantain and gooseberry.

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