Union minister Jual Oram on Thursday said tribal forest produce gatherers will get minimum support price for 50 items under a new scheme.

Under the "Scheme of Minimum Support Price and Value Addition", the MSP for 50 items will be hiked by 30 to 40 per cent. It will benefit 5.5 crore tribals who depend on forest produce for livelihood, he said.

Oram also said the government's flagship Van Dhan scheme for increasing incomes of tribal population is ready to be extended to all tribal districts in phases.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched the scheme in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district on April 14 last year.

"The tribals presently get only 20 to 30 per cent of the value chain of the minor forest produces. This situation will change with the scaling up of the Van Dhan scheme that aims to take this share to 70 to 80 per cent," he said.

The ministry will also set up around 6,000 Van Dan Vikas Kendras, each comprising 300 tribal gatherers, in the country. It is expected to provide employment to almost 45 lakh tribals.

Launching the TRIFOOD scheme, Oram said that under this scheme, a tertiary value addition centre will be set up in Jagdalpur in Chhattisgarh and Raigad in Maharashtra at an estimated cost of Rs 11 crore.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)