Plans afoot to set up Trifood Park at Lammasingi

Visakhapatnam: The exercise to set up a Trifood Park at Lammasingi in Chintapalli mandal of Visakhapatnam district is gaining momentum. The collaborative endeavour of the Ministry of Food Processing Industries and Tribal Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (TRIFED) aims at setting up value addition and processing centre, creating employment opportunities for the local tribal communities and facilitating entrepreneurial platforms through raw material linkages. Rolled out in the backdrop of Van Dhan Yojana, the Trifood scheme intends to promote value addition to Minor Forest Produce (MFP).

With similar projects already proposed at Raigad in Maharashtra and Jagdalpur in Chhattisgarh, the unit proposed at Chintapalli mandal would empower scores of tribal farmers in and around the region. Efforts are on to examine the availability of land for the processing center, the list of MFPs available in the region and value added products to be developed from the locally grown produce.

In Chintapalli and Gudem Kotha Veedhi mandals and other areas, a number of tribal farmers cultivate rajma, millets, maize, custard apple, dragon fruits, ginger, jamun, pepper, jackfruit, litchi, pineapple, avocado and strawberry. While coffee is grown extensively by the tribal farmers in Chintapalli and Gudem Kotha Veedhi mandals of Visakhapatnam district, rajma (French beans) are also widely cultivated in these areas. Annually, sacs of rajma are being sent to northern states from Visakhapatnam.

Also, in villages such as Pedabarada, Chinabarada, Chikkudubatti, Rajupakala, Kitumala, Tajangi, Bowda, Lammasingi and Rakota, an array of herbs and fruits are grown all through the year. Earlier, president of Indian Confederation of Indigenous and Tribal People Rama Gopal Gaduturi met Union Minister of State for Tribal Affairs Renuka Singh Saruta, Union Minister of State for Tribal Affairs Bisweswar Tudu along with the officials of TRIFED and gave a representation to take the project forward at Lammasingi. "The proposal would give a new lease of life for the tribals in Agency areas. The unit would facilitate value addition to Minor Forest Produce and in turn create livelihood opportunities for the tribals in the region," he says. With the ITDA Project Officer R Gopala Krishna considering steps to take the project forward, an action plan would be readied to set up the center at Lammasingi.