Keonjhar: Residents of forest-side villages in the district are manufacturing sal leaf plates and making a good profit from the trade.
Thanks to the forest department, a plant has been established at a cost of Rs 20 lakh to make the plates.
"Residents of these tribal-inhabited villages, who were dependent on forest for bread and butter, have now taken to leaf plate making. They are earning well as leaf plates are much in demand in urban areas," said a forest official.
The experiment to empower people and create opportunities for income generation from the sal leaves was undertaken last month.
The move has yielded positive results. "The demand for stitched sal leaf dishes and bowls has gone up so much that the villagers are unable to meet the demand," said divisional forest officer Santosh Joshi.
The objective of the project was to reduce human interference into the forest and discourage the use of non-biodegradable plastic plates and bowls. Taking the members of Vana Surakhya Samiti into confidence, a hi-tech sal leaf plate-making unit was installed in Deobanda village, about 20km from here. Altogether, 143 tribal families representing 23 self-help groups were involved in the self-employment project.
Within a month of its establishment, the sal leaf products have become a hit. Aided by machine, Sanjiuli villagers are producing 2,000 plates and bowls daily.
"They can produce more. However, frequent power cuts is hitting the production. The forest department has requested the electricity authorities to streamline the power supply to the village," Joshi said.
Nowadays people in urban areas are preferring old-fashioned leaf utensils during wedding and community feast.
"Last week, we had supplied 3,000 plates and bowls in Mumbai through a self-help group. More orders are being placed. But production is being hit by power cuts," said member of a self-help group Taramani Nayak.
"The plates and bowls are priced at Rs 4. The profit is good for a decent living," said Jashoda Mansingh, member of a self-help group.
