Coimbatore: Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India Ltd (TRIFED) today entered into an MoU with Tamil Nadu Agricultural Unvieresity (TNAU) to leverage the expertise developed by the varsity in the field of Human Resource training for value addition of agro and forest based products.
TRIFED is an agency under Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs primarily engaged in marketing and development of tribal traditional products including handicrafts and natural products.
The MoU, signed by Jiji Thomson, Managing Director, TRIFED, institutionalised the framework of association between two organisations and envisage establishing a tribal training centre in TNAU, imparting training on precision agriculture technique for cultivation of medicinal herbs and other crops in tribal areas and setting up a Tribes India showroom, the 50th in the country, on TNAU premises.
This is for the first time TRIFED is entering into MoU with a State Agricutlural Unviersity, Jiji told reporters on the sidelines of signing of MOU. Stating that the MOU also envisaged taking up various activities and sharing of resources and expertise for the benefit of tribals as a focussed group, he said at present TRIFED is concentrating on retailing and marketing of various products and artefacts, including tribal textile, jewellery, pottery, painting by tribals.
The official requested the State governments to provide at least 10 acres of land near important cities to create common facilities for the benefit of tribal people. TNAU vice-chancellor Murugesa Bhoopathi said the varsity has allotted 1,200 square feet of land for setting up a Tribal Training Centre and Exhibition. PTI