PHULBANI: Marginalized forest dwellers of Kandhamal, especially women, who depend on minor forest produce like sal leaf for a living, have been badly affected during the pandemic. With limited access to markets and traders unable to procure the product due to lockdown restrictions, these women are battling livelihood issues with no income over the past few months.
Sal leaf collection and stitching of leaf plates and cups (locally known as khali and dona) are the major income-generating means of tribal women. Contributing to the family income, these women visit the forest in the morning and come back by afternoon, collecting around 500-1,000 leaves per day that are enough to make 150-250 plates. Collected twice a year (November-March and June-July), collection in the first phase is said to be of better quality than the second which usually gets infested by fungus. Alongwith women, children too collect the leaves, make plates and cups and sell them in the local market at `20-25 for one ‘chekki’ (a packet of 25 Sal leaf plates).
The business usually picks up during November-December but the ongoing pandemic and subsequent lockdown have stopped all means of business for these sal leaf collectors in 12 blocks who now find no takers for their products. Add to it the curbs on marriages and festivals, shut down of weekly markets, hotels and dhabas, which have shrunk the demand for the biodegradable leaf plates.
Earlier, the amount earned from the sales was enough to sustain the collectors for about six months. But the lockdown has left them in a quandary. With the hope of selling the products after things normalise, many women have stacked these leaves in their houses. Sita Kanhor, a tribal woman from Arapaju in Khajuripada block, said despite machine-made leaf plates being introduced in the markets, demand for Sal leaf products was not hampered in the pre-pandemic times.
“Local traders used to procure from us and send them to Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, Berhampur and neighbouring Andhra Pradesh. But with restrictions on inter-State vehicular movement and lockdowns, traders are unable to visit the villages,” added Sita. Many tribal women like Basanti Pradhan and Nibedita Kanhor of Daringibadi, too await an uncertain future with the hope for reviving sales as soon as restrictions are eased.