https://indianmasterminds.com

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

Tribes’ Produce Bring Moolah To Munnar’s National Park

The Munnar Forest department has set up a shop in the Eravikulam National Park for selling organic produce of the local tribal population. The shop has been named Eravikulam Organic - The Tribe's Shop,and it sells fully organic food produce, direct from the fields, like butter beans, honey, lemon grass oil, eucalyptus oil, etc. The department helped open this organic outlet so that the tribal people could get a fair price and profit for their goods by direct selling, avoiding middlemen.
Indian Masterminds Stories

A small piquant outlet selling fully organic food products catches the eye of anyone visiting the Eravikulam National Park in Munnar, Kerala, these days. Named Eravikulam Organic, the outlet-in-a-vehicle sells organic produce of tribes, especially from the settlements of Idamalakudy and Koodakkadu areas. The forest department helped open this outlet so that the tribal people could get a fair price and profit for their goods by direct selling and avoiding middlemen.

Indian Masterminds interacted with forest officers, Mr. S V Vinod, DFO and Wildlife Warden, Munnar Wildlife Division, and Range Officer Job J Neriamparambil, regarding this initiative and learnt how they managed to change the lives of the tribal population with this small but thoughtful initiative.

THE ORGANIC SHOP

Talking to Indian Masterminds, Mr. S V Vinod, DFO and Wildlife Warden, Munnar Wildlife Division, said, “Actually, we are fully dedicated to the development of the tribal community. Here, we are aiming at the women who are sitting idle in the tribal colonies. By this initiative, we will be empowering them. Usually, some middlemen purchase all the produce of tribals. But, here, we are trying to avoid these middlemen and give direct benefits to the tribals.”

With no middlemen in the picture, all products will be brought to the outlet by the tribal people themselves and, this way, they will get more percentage and good prices through direct selling. Moreover, it’s beneficial for the visitors to the National Park too, as they are getting an opportunity to purchase the organic products directly from the local tribal producers. With the first outlet already showing positive results, the forest department is now planning to form a proper network and establish more such outlets.

THE IMPLEMENTATION

Before opening the tribal outlet in the Park premises, the forest department had initially started one weekly Thursday market called ‘Chilla’ for the tribal people to sell their produce.

Range Officer Job J Neriamparambil told Indian Masterminds that “this initiative is intended mainly for the upliftment of tribal women and encourage organic produce and give a good market price for them. There is the Muthuvan tribe in Idukki district who are into agricultural activity. They produce butter bean, beans, honey, lemon grass oil,eucalyptus oil,gooseberry, etc. We started the weekly market for them. Middlemen and retail shopkeepers came to this market and the villagers’ goods were auctioned off.”

However, noticing that these people were being exploited by the middlemen, the forest department decided to open an outlet for their produce inside the National Park so that they get good exposure, as tourists from both within and outside the country visit it. “We collect their produce and market them properly in our organic outlet. Since all produce are fully organic, they fly off the shelves fast as gueststo the Park are eager to buy them. So, we are fulfilling two objectives here. We are supplying good quality goods to our guests and the tribal people are making good profits, too.”

WOMEN EMPOWERMENT

Mr. Job also informed Indian Masterminds that there are 50 plus watchers from the Muthuvan tribe in the National Park. Earlier, their wives and other ladies of the tribe were sitting idle at home.But,after the forest department’s initiative, they started cultivating vegetables and bring their produce directly to the outlet for sale and earn some extra money for their households. So,in this way, the opening of the organic shop has helped the tribal women to become self-reliant also.


Indian Masterminds Stories
Related Stories
NEWS
NHAI logo
NHAI Signs Rs. 7,000 Crore Pact for Guwahati Ring Road Development
BPCL_resized
BPCL Launches Sports Scholarship Initiative to Support Young Athletes
Indian Oil IOCL
Indian Oil Unveils Project SPRINT to Drive Future-Ready Transformation
BHEL_resized
BHEL-Hitachi Consortium Secures 6,000 MW HVDC Transmission Project for Adani Energy
govt_assam_resized
IAS Laya Madduri Appointed Director in Economic Affairs; Assam Undergoes Major Bureaucratic Reshuffle
IREDA CMD Pradeep Kumar Das
IREDA CMD Pradip Kumar Das Highlights Green Finance Strategies at PPAC Foundation Day
Jammu&Kashmir
IFS Brij Mohan Sharma Appointed Principal Secretary of J&K Culture Department
TRIFED-Logo
TRIFED Collaborates with NIFT and HPMC to Expand Market Access for Tribal Products
Videos
Padmapani Bora IRS
The Rise of Assam as India’s Most Exciting Tourist Spot | Exclusive with IRS Padmapani Bora
Sajjan Yadav | IAS
The Policy Maker Who Turned India’s Vaccine Story and UPSC Struggles into Bestsellers
WhatsApp Image 2025-03-21 at 14.33
Training The Cops In Mastering The Technology Used By Criminals
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Latest
NHAI logo
NHAI Signs Rs. 7,000 Crore Pact for Guwahati Ring Road Development
BPCL_resized
BPCL Launches Sports Scholarship Initiative to Support Young Athletes
Videos
Padmapani Bora IRS
Sajjan Yadav | IAS
WhatsApp Image 2025-03-21 at 14.33
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT