Malkangiri: The women folk of the Bonda community in the district fail to get the right price for their forest produce because of the absence of proper marketing facility and monitoring mechanism.

Though the state government has made provisions for panchayats to regulate trade of the non-timber forest products, the Bonda women have to travel all the way from Malkangiri to places such as Onkadeli and Jeypore in Koraput district to sell their broomsticks. The Bondas, a particularly vulnerable tribal group residing in the rugged areas of Bonda hills in Khairput block of Malkangiri, have to eke out a living by selling the agro-based and forest products, particularly broomsticks.

However, unscrupulous traders buy broomsticks from the Bonda women at cheap rates. "The price they pay for the broomsticks does not justify our labour, for which many of us depend on the weekly and urban markets," said Uttamguda villager Sukri Kirsani. Sources said the Bonda women sold around 80,000 bundles of broomsticks - weighing from 200g to 600g - every year. The rate of these unfinished products ranges between Rs 20 to Rs 35 per kg. The traders, however, reportedly exploit the primary collectors because of the absence of any monitoring and control on the traders by panchayat officials. "After procuring the broomsticks from the Bondas at throwaway prices, the traders sell it in the urban areas in much higher rates," said Kalia Sisa, an activist in the area.

"It's high time that the government should take necessary measures to ensure that the Bonda, who heavily depends on selling broomsticks for their living, are not exploited by the middlemen," he said.

Officials, too, admitted the plight of the broomstick sellers. "The Bondas do not get the due price of their products. We are planning to fix the minimum support price of broomsticks and take stringent action against the unscrupulous traders," said a block official.

He further said a self-help group of the broomstick sellers had recently been formed for the Bondas by the Odisha Rural Development and Marketing Society, and the tribal women were being trained as how to get the maximum price for their products.

"It has been seen that the broomstick sellers are getting benefitted after formation of the self-help group, but the availability of plastic broomsticks in the market is posing a threat for the Bondas," the official said.