The Pradhan Mantri Van Dhan Yojana, launched by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Government of India, was designed to focus on developing value chains for Minor Forest-based Products (MFPs) and enhancing the income of tribal communities by providing them with skill training and capacity building. Under the Van Dhan Vikas Yojana, tribal communities are encouraged to form clusters and take up the processing of forest produce to increase their value. The scheme also provides market linkages to the tribal communities for their products through various online and offline channels.
During the last two months in Meghalaya, EDII organized various training programmes focused on strengthening entrepreneurial and value-addition skills among tribal beneficiaries. Three training programmes on soap and candle making were conducted, benefiting 64 beneficiaries from six VDVKs. In addition, five food processing trainings provided hands-on exposure to 147 beneficiaries from 21 VDVKs in preparing products such as chicken pickle, tomato hot sauce, banana chips, mango pickle, jackfruit ice cream and jackfruit pickle.
Recognizing the importance of product presentation in today’s competitive markets, EDII also conducted branding and packaging training programmes across 21 VDVKs. These sessions addressed 315 beneficiaries.
