Indore (Madhya Pradesh): Indore circle achieves 130 per cent of target in tendu patta collection within the first 20 days. Tendu leaves are collected annually under minor forest produce in Madhya Pradesh.
MP is the biggest tendu leaf (Leaves of Diospyros melanoxylon) producing state of India.
The average annual production of tendu leaves in the state is around 25 lakh standard bags, which is nearly 25% of the total tendu leaves production of the country.
One standard bag of tendu leaves in Madhya Pradesh means 1000 bundles of 50 leaves each. Indore has collected 13,000 standard bags so far, said chief conservator of forest HS Mohanta.
“The target is 9,800 and we have already collected much above it, nearly 130 per cent,” he said. Even on a year-on-year basis, Indore circle has shown improvement in collection of leaves.
“Last year, i.e. 2021, Indore circle collected 11,873 bags in the season,” Mohanta said. He added that this year, the increase is an excellent sign.
In the state, forest produce is collected in 60 districts through cooperative unions and 1066 primary forest produce cooperative societies. At present there are 45 lakh tendu patta collectors in the state. Of these, more than 50 per cent of the 23 lakh collectors belong to the tribal group. Similarly, 40 per cent are women collectors.
Focus on quality, targets were changed
“To see if we did better than before, I got reports of 2018 and 2019,” CCF HS Mohanta said. He added that the collection was between 17,000 and 18,000 in those years.
“In 2020, the target was reduced to 9,800 with an objective to get good quality leaves and at a higher price,” Mohanta said.
Remuneration bumped up to Rs 3k/bag
The remuneration paid to tendu patta collectors was increased this year to Rs 3,000 per bag. Till the year 2021, the remuneration paid to collectors was Rs 2,500 per standard bag. A target of 16.29 lakh standard bags was set for the state this year.
Hence, this year a remuneration of Rs 500 crore will be given overall. This will be an additional remuneration of Rs 81 crore as compared to last year, which will help in providing additional means of employment in summer season.
Further, the amount of dividend will also be distributed to the tendu leaves collectors. From this year onwards, it has been decided to increase the net profit of dividend from 70 per cent to 75 per cent directly to the tendu patta collectors.
Published on: Saturday, May 21, 2022, 01:34 AM IST