ABOUT US

Madhya Pradesh State Minor Forest Produce (Trading and Development) Cooperative Federation Limited is an apex organization of approximately 3 million forest produce gatherers comprising of 1066 primary cooperatives and 58 District Unions. It is the also the nodal agency for all aspects relating to managment, development and trade of minor forest produce / non-wood forest produce sector in the state.

Under the three tier cooperative structure, the primary societies have been constituted with the membership of actual pluckers and chairman of the society is chosen from amongst the members only. At present there are over 17000 collection centers spread over the length and breadth of the state and the annual turnover of the trade is over Rs 3000 million.

In line with the time tested philosophy of care and share and to ensure that harvesting of MFP has essentially to be on a non-destructive basis, serious and concerted attempts have been made to convert these poor people from gatherer to owner. Accordingly in Madhya Pradesh during 1998 Tendu leaves collection season, in addition to receipt of around Rs 1818 million as collection wages, the societies got around Rs 1270 million as net profit which was distributed among various stakeholders.

With proper research focus, sustainable harvest and appropriate utilization pattern including godowning, processing and marketing, the turnover from MFP may cross even 8000 million-rupee mark - a substantial sum by any standards, for the rural poor