TRIFED has established 141 Outlets including franchisee outlets across the country till date for marketing of tribal products

New Delhi: To increase the sale of tribal crafts and products and visibility and export thereof the Ministry of Tribal Affairs provides funds to Tribal Co-operative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED) for marketing of tribal products by empanelling tribal suppliers comprising of individual tribal artisans, tribal Self Help Groups (SHGs), Organisations / Agencies / NGOs working with tribals etc under the scheme ‘Institutional Support for Marketing and Development of Tribal Products / Produce’. TRIFED is also engaged in direct sale of tribal products, including art & craft items through its network of Tribes India Showrooms, exhibitions, Aadi Mahotsav. Further, marketing is done through online e-commerce portal developed by TRIFED and also online retailers like Amazon, Flipkart etc.

The following efforts have been made by TRIFED to increase sales of tribal craft and products:

(i) TRIFED has established a network of 141 Outlets including franchisee outlets located across the country as on 30.06.2021. During 2019-20, 1662 tribal suppliers were empanelled and procurement of Rs. 5167.83 lakhs worth of tribal products was made. During the financial year 2020-21, procurement for an amount of Rs. 1709 lakh was made and 2802 tribal artisans were empanelled.

Tribal Artisan Mela (TAM) are organized with a view to identify new artisans and new products at the sourcing level in States/Districts/Villages for expanding the tribal producers base. During financial year 2019-20, 21 TAMs were organized in different States, wherein 610 artisans participated and exhibited their crafts. For expansion of supplier base, suppliers’ conference was organized at New Delhi in 2020-21 where about 250 tribal suppliers participated from across the country to finalise the supply orders for each Region. In 2020-21, 24 virtual and three on ground TAMs were organized by TRIFED across the country.
During pandemic, TRIFED launched an e-market place www.tribesindia.com for tribal artisan/suppliers to sell their products.

TRIFED organises National Tribal Festival ‘AadiMahotsav’ –Festival of Craft, Culture, Cuisine and Commerce in all major cities across the country. The event comprises of display and sale of tribal art and craft, tribal medicine and tribal cuisine etc. Sixteen (16) such events were organized during the financial year 2019-20 in different parts of the country. These Aadi Mahotsavs resulted in providing direct benefit to 2733 Tribal artisans who participated in the events where combined sale was Rs.12.51 Crores and purchase orders worth Rs.12.50 Crores for the participating artisans. In August, 2019, a mega tribal event Aadi Mahotsav was organized at Leh – Ladakhwherein more than 200 tribal artisans from across the country participated and realized a sale of Rs. 34.92 Lakhs.

(v) During the month of the November, 2019, TRIFED also organized Aadi Mahotsav from 16th to 30 November, 2019 at Palika Park and DilliHaat, INA, New Delhi wherein 444 tribal artisans/cooks from across the country participated. The festival featured exhibition-cum-sale of tribal crafts and products through over 200 stalls. In the course of 15 days, Tribal Artisans transacted business worth Rs. 20 crores. Due to pandemic situation across the country, during the financial year 2020-21 TRIFED organized only one Aadi Mahotsav from 1st February to 15th February, 2021 at DilliHaat INA, New Delhi wherein 1000 tribal artisans/cooks from across the country participated.

TRIFED has established its own E-commerce portal www.tribesindia.com and also present on all major e-commerce portals like Amazon, Snapdeal, Flipkart, Paytm, and Gem for promoting tribal crafts and products. As part of this initiative, TRIFED made sales of Rs. 71.50 lakhs in financial year 2019-20.

TRIFED has received inquiries from 18 Indian Missions/ embassies abroad for variety of products. TRIFED has already dispatched stocks amounting to Rs.8.34 lakhs to New York for International Yoga Day, Rs. 2.48 lakhs to Budapest Embassy Hungary, Rs. 3.34 lakhs to Embassy of Croatia and another order of Rs. 2.56 lakhs to India Consulate New York, USA.

A workshop on “Strategies for Promoting & Marketing of Tribal products” conducted on 14 February, 2020 bringing together various stakeholders including central Ministries, corporations, academia, industry associations, advertising consultants, designers, ecommerce groups like Snapdeal, Flipkart, etc. to revamp and expand the TribesIndia # GoTribal campaign.

“Go Tribal by TRIBES INDIA” was launched on 28.06.2019 to promote use of tribal handicrafts, handlooms and natural products.

Van Dhan Vikas Karyakram, an initiative under the Scheme ‘Mechanism for Marketing of Minor Forest Produce (MFP) through Minimum Support Price (MSP) and Development of Value Chain for MFP’, targets livelihood generation for tribals by harnessing the wealth of forest i.e. Van Dhan. Under this programme, tribal community owned Minor Forest Produce centric multi-purpose Kendras are set up through Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED) in the districts with significant tribal population. The Kendras acts as common facility centres for procurement cum value addition to locally available Minor Forest Produce. Value addition of raw produce helps increasing the value of the MFP considerably and consequently the income of the gatherers. State-wise details of Van Dhan Vikas Kendras established in the country.

This information was given by Minister of State for Tribal Affairs, Smt. Renuka Singh Saruta in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.