The Tribal Co-operative Marketing Development Federation of India Ltd (TRIFED) is opening a showroom in Surat next month,the first in Gujarat,in view of the growing demand for tribal products of other states here,said TRIFED Regional Manager B Jagadish. After the opening of the Surat outlet,we propose to open similar offices in other parts of the state like Ahmedabad,Bhavnagar,Rajkot and Vadodara. At present,TRIFED is busy scouting volunteer agencies and individuals to get registered with us for procuring tribal products,he said. Jagadish said the focus will be on Surat due to its proximity to tribal areas from where the products are sourced. The annual procurement is around Rs 50 lakh with an annual growth of 20 per cent,he said. TRIFED has been organising tribal artisan melas every three months to provide a platform to artisans to sell their products through various voluntary agencies in the presence of officials from the head office. As on date,tribal products from the state are sold through 27 centres named Tribes India. No product from Gujarat is sold within the state through the TRIFED marketing network,said Jagadish. He said at present,TRIFED in Gujarat has 9,000 registrations for artisans and suppliers. We find this number quite insufficient,so we have decided to invite more new people for registration. The popularity of tribal products is growing. During the Commonwealth Games last year,more than 90,000 handmade files were from Gujarat,he added.
