With cashew & coffee, tribal food park to come up in Andhra Pradesh

VISAKHAPATNAM: A tribal food park will be set up in north-coastal Andhra Pradesh this financial year under Trifood Projects of Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation. Initially, the food park will focus on setting up a cashew processing unit at Rampachodavaram in East Godavari district and a coffee curing centre at Narsipatnam in Visakhapatnam.
Girijan Cooperative Corporation (GCC), the nodal body, has submitted proposals for the food park and identified land.The central government-funded project, which will be implemented through Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA), is intended to boost tribal income and help generate employment in agency areas.

Speaking to TOI, GCC general manager (marketing) D Surendra Kumar said that around five acres land will be needed for the food park and the project would cost Rs 5–10 crore. “The food park project, which will generate employment for hundreds of tribal people, is likely to be completed by 2022,” Kumar said.
Apart from the food park, 263 Van Dhan Vikas Kendras (forest wealth development centres) are being set up in eight districts in the state. Explaining the purpose of these centres, Kumar said, “The scheme, Van Dhan Yojana, is a market-linked tribal entrepreneurship programme for forming clusters of tribal self-help groups and strengthening them into tribal producer companies.”
“The scheme for minimum support price (MSP) for minor forest produce (MFP) and development of value chain was started by the ministry of tribal affairs some years ago to provide fair price to MFP gatherers, enhance their income and ensure sustainable harvesting of MFPs,” the GCC general manager (marketing) said.