BHUBANESWAR: In a bid to boost economic activities in tribal-dominated areas, the State Government has taken up several livelihood and income generating programmes in 12 territorial forest divisions on joint forest management mode with direct participation of Vana Surakshya Samitis and SHGs under phase-II of the Odisha Forestry Sector Development Project (OFSDP).
Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy reviewed the progress of the scheme at a meeting on Friday and directed officials to identify forest division specific ‘product clusters’ and scale up those through inter-departmental convergence. He asked to maximise convergence of resources from OFSDP, MGNREGS, Odisha Livelihoods Mission, Odisha Tribal Empowerment Livelihood Project plus and other similar activities. Additional Chief Secretary in Forest and Environment department Mona Sharma suggested that farm, non-farm and non-timber forest produce-based interventions should be taken up through community level institutions.
It was decided to map local availability of different products and establish ‘product clusters’ like sal seed, tamarind, harida, bahada, char, cashew, mango, mahua and neem seed clusters. Development Commissioner Suresh Chandra Mohapatra directed to establish Livelihood Resource Centre to provide technical input, required skill, training and linking to financial institutions. He said continuous handholding support should be provided for product development, branding and marketing linkages.