Government has asked states to speed up procurement of Minor Forest Produce to support Tribals in the backdrop of situation created by COVID-19. Tribal Affairs Ministry has said that the States have initiated the process of procurement of Minor Forest Produce, MFP and operations have begun in ten States.

Procurement of over Rs 20 crore has already been undertaken in the current financial year till date. The Ministry said, the entire procurement operation for MFP will get a further push after announcement of revised Minimum Support Price for 49 items of forest produce in view of COVID-19. The increase across various items of minor forest produce ranges from 16 per cent to 66 per cent.

An online monitoring dashboard namely Van Dhan Monit Dashboard, has been created for reporting activities undertaken at the State level for procurement of Minor Forest Produce. States have appointed the Van Dhan Kendras as their primary procurement agents for MFP procurements from haat bazaars.