Keonjhar: Dry mango pulp enjoys a good demand throughout the year, but impoverished tribals who prepare the product struggle to fetch a proper remuneration for their hard work due to the absence of marketing facilities.
Intellectuals and social activists say the mango pulp-making trade can provide good earnings to tribals and make their economy strong if they are encouraged to produce and package it through financial help.
Branded companies sell and export this produce after good packaging and earn a lot of money, but the local products do not fetch good earnings for the tribals.
It is alleged that local traders procure the pulp at a very low price from the tribals and make good profits after sales. The tribals get a paltry sum in return despite their product being much superior than the one sold by branded firms.
Lack of packaging and marketing is a major problem for the tribals in selling their produce, it is said.
The pulp made from indigenous mango has high demand in West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and other states due to its quality.
Tribals collect a variety of indigenous mangoes from forests in summer. This year, huge quantities of mangoes were produced in the district. Sadly, several quintals of mango went to rot after falling from trees. These mangoes could not be collected from the trees at the right time.
They collect the mangoes at their convenient time and with their available resources.
According to tribals, the mangoes which remain unsold are squeezed to draw juice. Then, the juice is kept in pots. The tribal usually make sheets out of date palm leaves. They spread the pulp on leaf sheets and dry them out in the hot sun until the pulp dries.
Then, to make it tastier, they add the right amount of salt, chilli powder and other spices.
The problem is tribals fail to pay heed to sanitation in the process of pulp preparation. They sometimes dry the pulp in unhygienic surroundings. Thus the pulp has the chances of getting contaminated by insects and dirt.
In some areas, tribals usually make high platforms with support of poles and dry the pulp there.
According to an unofficial estimate, about 1,000 quintals of mango pulp is prepared every year while over 1000 tribal families are into this job in the district.
In Keonjhar, mango pulp is sold for Rs 100 to Rs 120 while it commands over Rs 200 outside the district, some traders said.
Traders most of the time exploit the tribals and take away the pulp by offering meagre payments, but later sell it at a premium.
Saraswati Nayak of Suakati said, “We invest a lot of effort in pulp making. It takes at least 10/15 days to prepare mango pulp. If the weather remains wet, the pulp has chances of getting rotten. If it is not properly dried, it gets infested with worms. We have to incur loss.”
Kuramani Tanti, a retired employee, observed that the tribals need training in preservation of mango and good healthy practice in preparing and drying the pulp so that they can make good earning from it.
If SHGs are imparted training in pulp preparation, it could be a profit-making business for scores of poor tribals, Tanti said. PNN
