Government Support

• As per A.P. Forest Act, 1967, Gum, Myrobolans, Addaleaf and other items whether found in or brought from a forest are declared as “forest produce”.
• The A.P. Scheduled Areas MFP (Regulation of Trade) Regulation, 1979 further specifies MFP as any forest produce other than timber, trees and charcoal, as may be notified by the Government in this behalf.
• GCC is appointed as “Agent to Government” with monopoly rights for procurement and trade of MFP in scheduled areas of the State.
• The MFP units are leased out to GCC which are thrown open to the tribals for collection of the produce.
• As stipulated in the Forest Act, 1967 and Regulation, 1979, the produce from the forests should be transported on prescribed “Permit”. In pursuance of this stipulation, GCC is taking up transportation of MFP after obtaining “Form-I & Form-II Permits” from Forest department.
• The Pricing policy dictates that GCC should pass on the nearest whole sale market rate of MFP commodities to the tribals without making any deductions towards over heads and establishment costs.
• As many as 35 items were originally notified as MFP under the said Trade Regulation, 1979. At present the following 20 MFP items are on the list of monopoly items of GCC.

Minor Forest Produce being procured

Procurement Methodology

• Procurement prices fixed are declared well in advance and wide publicity is given in the tribal areas.
• Purchases are made in the Weekly shandies, notified Purchase centers, D.R.Depots and also in the villages of the gatherers.
• Minimum Support Price Scheme (MSP) of G.O.I. is also implemented
• Entire range of produce collected by the tribals is procured irrespective of its quantity.
• Weighing of produce, billing and spot payment in cash to the MFP gatherers is ensured.
• Affiliated Girijan Primary Marketing Societies to monitor this activity.
• Storage godowns are maintained for MFP/SAP stocks.