Minimum Support Price of Minor Forest Produce (MFP) and Its Sustainable Harvest: A Social Safety Measure for MFP Collectors in India

Forests in India are treated primarily as social and environmental resource, and only secondarily, as commercial resource. More than 300 million people derive full or partial livelihood and sustenance need from forests. Many a times, communities are compelled to harvest forest produce unsustainably due to lack of adequate finance to meet their day to day life supporting needs. With such large population dependent on forest resources, the minor forest produce (MFP) sector is India’s largest unorganized sector. The forest dwellers are now even legally empowered with ownership and governance of minor forest produce (MFP) through two important legislations of Government of India, namely PESA, 1996 and Forest Rights Act, 2006 which gives the “right of ownership for the purpose of access, collect, use, value addition, trade and marketing of minor forest produce. Yet, the tribal and other local people dependent on forests remain underprivileged and impoverished.

TERI has conducted research study for establishing methodology for determining minimum support price for 12 MFPS and on the basis of 12000 household surveys, 1200 work studies and more than 100 Focus Group Discussions. The study prepared a detailed mechanism for determining MSP for MFPs which would help enhance the income of forest dependent communities, and also keep harvest under sustainable limit. A Policy brief on Minimum Support Price of Minor Forest Produce (MFP) and Its Sustainable Harvest: A Social Safety Measure for MFP Collectors in India prepared on the basis of primary research is prepared based on the study conducted by TERI.