Minor Forest Produce

About Minor Forest Produce:

• The Scheduled Tribe and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, or Forest Rights Act (FRA), defines ‘minor forest produce’ as any non-timber forest product of plant origin.
• This includes various items such as bamboo, brush wood, stumps, cane, tussar, cocoons, honey, wax, lac, kendu leaves, medicinal plants, herbs, roots, tubers and similar items.
• In simple terms, it encompasses all other forest products, excluding timber.

What is Kendu Leaf?

• It is called the green gold of Odisha. It is a nationalized product like Bamboo and Sal seed.
• It is one of the most important non-wood forest products of Odisha.
• It is also referred to as tendu leaf in some parts of the country and is used to roll tobacco into bidis (local cigarettes).
• Production:
  • The states producing kendu leaves in India comprise mainly Madhya Pradesh, Chhatisgarh, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Gujarat, and Maharastra.
  • Odisha is the third-largest producerof kendu leaf after Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.