SUPERFOODS AND BAMBOO FOR TRIBAL LIVELIHOOD & DEVELOPMENT

Dr. Utkarsh Ghate, Ex director, CCD & Gram Mooligai Co. ltd., Madurai & Jabalpur

February 2019, for Kovel foundation Silver Jubilee function

ABSTRACT

Superoods are healthy daily diet constituents that came into the lime light recently due to their extra
ordinary health benefits. These include Turmeric, Drumstick leaves, Palm jiggery, Ladies finger or
Chick pea. Such food provide opportunity to both improve diet and health, besides their income with
proper branding and corporate connect, of the farmer producer company of the tribal ownership.
This and the global shift to the green fuel and fibre viz. bamboo, Broom grass can improve the tribal
livelihood & well being. Gram mooligai co. ltd. (GMCL) Of Tamilnadu & central India in partnership
with Dabur India ltd. Is an example of symbiotic development of the tribal. Bamboo can be wonder-
solution to resolve the mass tribal eviction under forest rights law, by providing forest & income both.

INTRODUCTION

It’s a privilege to speak at the silver jubilee of Kovel foundation of & for tribal empowerment
in the Vaizag i.e. Vishakhapattinam hills region of the Eastern Ghats mountains. Unfortunate the
supreme court ordered recently the eviction of about 12 million families considered forest
encroachers country wide. This can be a historical mistake and presents unique opportunity to grow
Bamboo to retain the forest cover in the disputed lands as explained in the later parts of the article.

The tribal traditional knowledge is much hyped and Turmeric, Basmati rice or Arogya Paccha
(Health plant) of Kerala, Warli art of Maharashtra or Jasmine rice of Thailand are famous cases of
global biopiracy. These were protested and traditional rights of the countries origin were recognized,
disallowing the foreign companies to misuse the goods, symbols or the terms. This was based not
just on the documents but also the culture and beliefs, with some support from the modern science
and technology inputs. Similar effort is needed to protect and develop the tribal livelihoods and well
being. Liquour & superstition are traditional tribal enemies & FRA is a new threat to many.

Hunger & malnutrition are the biggest curses of tribal life, caused chiefly by the (a) poor
productivity of their farming and equally (b) forest shrinkage and degradation reducing the wild
fruits, leaves and tubers availability, curbing the starch and vitamin diet, (c) ban on hunting causing
loss of protein intake. This, the government is promoting (a) high yielding food crops or even cash
crops, (b) livestock rearing to enhance protein consumption and sales. But the growth rate is slow.
For, there is lack of entrepreneurship and marketing spirit or ability in the tribal due to their shy
culture devoid of surplus or trading. Only barter- goods exchange- is known to the most tribal so far.

NOTABLE INITIATIVES

Many non governmental organisations- NGOs- have championed the tribal development,
and are some examples include Ramkrishna mission in many states, Vivekanand Girijan Kalyan
Kendra- VGKK, in Biligiri Rangan Hills, Mysore district, Karnataka state or Dr. Prakash Amte’s
Lokbiradari (people’s reign) in Gadchiroli district, Maharashtra state. They provide health and
education inputs, but the livelihood or finance services are often missing. Hence, the government
started national rural livelihood mission (NRLM) especially the Mahila Kisan Sashaktiparan
Pariyojana (MKSP- women farmer empowerment scheme) component with focus on forest/ tribal
livelihoods. Kovel foundation championed it in Vaizag with notable results.

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 GREEN GOODS

Growing health consciousness globally has led to emergence of herbal industry & recently
super foods i.e. diet components with extra ordinary health benefits. For instance, Turmeric latte ie.
Milk shake for rheumatism control, Drum stick leaves are being consumer as calcium and iron
supplement, Palm jaggery as polyphenol source and ladies finger for detoxification & Blood pressure.

Herbs such as Triphala- Amla (Phyllanthus emblica), Behera (Terminalia bellirica) & Harra
(Terminalia chebula) & Satavar (Asparagus racemosa) are in huge and growing demand. For, these
are among the top anti-oxidant value herbs world-wide and reduce body stress, cause de-tox and
improve health by better digestion, as tonic and the last one is even a top lactating agent. Kondh,
primitive Tribal in Orissa & Andhra grow Turmeric with amongst the highest Curcumin content- 6 to
8% but this is not properly recognized, branded or made premium product of them yet. Orissa
government has applied for “Kandhmal haladi” as Geographic Indication & can be helpful to do so.
Herbs & spice grown in the lateritic, nutrient poor & unirrigated soils may posses more polyphenol
content- health chemicals and this can be studied, developed, branded & used for tribal benefit.

Silk, especially Tassar silk, whose worms are reared on Arjuna (Terminalia arjuna) tree/ its
relatives is very profitable venture for the hill tribal, earning Rs. 8,000/- to 10,000/- per family/year.
Lac worm rearing on Kusum (Schleichera oleosa) or Palash (Butea monosperma) or Ber (Ziziphus
jujube) tree is another such lucrative enterprise. Its used in even CD making besides jewellery, gum
or dye making as before.

Bamboo is the new found “green gold” of the tribal, forest tracts as it can earn Rs. 1 lakh/
acre/ year or more due to 40 ton/acre/ year yield & Rs. 2/- to 3/- kg price. It can be used for bio-
energy in the form of green coal/ bio-CNG, vide emerging technology. It’s a wood substitute, in
making fibre-boards, hybrid ply and used in flooring, roofing & interior design, panels etc. There is
national bamboo mission, like medicinal plants board & both need to learn from & emulate the
success of the national horticulture mission that started fruit-vegetable exports.

The corporate interest in bamboo is growing. ITC, the largest agarbatti- incense stick-
manufacturer, IKEA foundation the global sustainable furniture co., Bamboo India & Mutha
Industries, JANS Bamboo co. etc. have triggered growth in the sector. This can help India to
substitute locally over Rs. 5,000/- (five thousand) crore imports of Chinese bamboo sticks.

Farmer producer company- FPO- is the landmark amendment under the companies law that
enables producer groups to manufacture &/or market eco-friendly goods & services. Sahyadri FPO,
Nasik is the only noteworthy in this category with over Rs. 25 crore/year sales of Grapes, other fruits
& over 5,000 members. The rest are tiny- with about Rs. 1 crore/year sales & 500-1,000 members.
For, they lack profitable products like the above. But they can either promote lucrative product like
the above or scale up for growth & sustainability. Most of them are NGO & NABARD promoted &
lack innovation & zeal. Corporate social responsibility- CSR- is the new fund for them to tap well.

Gram Mooligai Co. ltd.- GMCL- is one such FPO registered as public limited co. in the year
2,000, much before the FPO enactment of 2004. It’s a company owned by the landless women
savings groups of Viruthunagar district in Tamil nadu state, with office at Madurai. Its clients include
Dabur India Ltd., Emami, Himalaya Drug co. ltd., & Natural Remedies, Bangalore. Its products include
medicinal plants such as Triphala & Satavar, Bhringraj (Eclipta alba), Bhui-amla (Phyllanthus amarus)
besides cultivated species like Tulasi (Occimum sanctum).

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 GMCL spread to central India especially Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh in 2008 with office
at Jabalpur to service Dabur & Emami. Its work in sustainable collection & cultivation of herbs
provides regular and decent income of Rs. 8,000/- to 10,000/- per year, besides insurance,
awareness, exposure facilities to about 2,000 rural poor families. This helps them to overcome
poverty. Over 60% of them are from central India & tribal. It won the India Biodiversity Award, 2016
of Govt. of India & UNDP, for becoming the 1st company to share benefits with Madhya Pradesh
state biodiversity board from 2013 in supply to Dabur.

Dabur India ltd. Supports CCD- the Covenant Centre for Development- under its CSR
program to cultivate herbs in high demand like it supports Kovel foundation- in growing Dasamula
group of trees (ten toots used in Chyavan prash- the top selling Ayurved drug/ tonic). CCD promoted
GMCL and conducts capacity building of its members through training and bank linkage or other
services like insurance. It can tap new opportunities above in future.

BAMBOO- THE TRIBAL SAVIOUR

Eviction of millions of tribal under FRA implies that outsider society that intruded in the hill
forest kingdom of the tribal are today controlling the region and shunting out the tribal. It is unfair
and a historical injustice that needs immediate correction, by at least reconsidering the tribal
applications in it. For, it could promote a wave of hunger, army of beggars, urban crimes and even
suicides, in an aspiring super-power country. How can one legitimise the large dams, power units,
factories and habitations that shrunk forests by millions of ha just because they got the papers?

The recent judgement contradicts the government policies and programs of tribal and hill
development. While the tribal have been predominant inhabitants of the hills, other communities
also began intruding and established significant land ownership in the recent decades. Yet, rejection
of 11 million of the 30 million applications for land title under forest rights act (FRA), 2005 seems
absurd. The tribal are mostly illiterate, lack documentary evidence of birth, caste or identity such as
Adhaar or ration card and even the land ownership. To expect the same to regularize their farming is
akin to asking an automobile driver to fly aircraft or manoeuvre ship.

The integrated tribal development program (ITDP) that the government ran countrywide for
decades focussed on improving the tribal food security, nutrition and health. The livelihood
component was weak that the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) south to improve in the last
decade. As an effect, the human development index (HDI) of the tribal districts has improved from
0.5 to 0.6 but yet its still similar to many African nations. It is still far lower to the urban or developed
states/ district values of 0.75 to 0.8. HDI is a combination of income, education and life span values
and lower HDI implies low value of these. The above judgement can reduce the HDI further as where
would the so called encroachers i.e. inhabitants for decades or generations who lack the documents
would go, what work they can obtain and how can they feed themselves? Many applicants are tribal
and lack education or skills and can be driven to begging or crime, like the Naxalites in the region.

However, growing Bamboo instead of food crops on the disputed land titles can both retain
the forest cover & secure tribal livelihood. For, Bamboo harvest, transport & marketing is removed
from restrictions by the central & many state governments in the last few years.

CONCLUDING REMARKS

Tribal livelihood development requires sound documentation & policy campaign, dialogue
on one hand while on the other, science- technology inputs, innovation and corporate branding,
marketing. Herbs, spice & pulses besides Bamboo farming provide future growth options.