This leave is an important source of livelihood
for many forest dwellers. Leaves of a creeper, this is used
primary in making plate that is used in the south Indian states
for having food. Although available in other parts of the
state, the leafs are mainly collected in the coastal districts
of Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, and East Godavari. Collection
is not confined to any particular tribe and all tribes irrespective
of their economic status participate in the collection.
Phenology, silviculture & utilisation
Adda plants are also known as camel foot
climber. Adda plant yields bark, leaf and seeds that are important
NTFP. The leaves are broad, flexible and soft; and are extensively
used in making plates and cups. Stitching of the leaves into
cups and plates using small blades of grass is a major household/
cottage industry. The bark is rich in fibre and is used in
making ropes. The bark also has tanning properties and contains
17 percent tannin.
However the reported use of bark is more for
making ropes. The seeds are consumed locally and it is reported
to have good quality nutritive value. Usually the seeds are
fried/ roasted and consumed as snacks.
Collection and processing
The leaf is picked from the creeper growing
around big trees and plants hanging encircled, found mostly
in the deep forests. Men, women and children are engaged in
collection of the produce mostly from mid March to the end
of September. Men mostly collect the leaves available in the
forest. Though available most part of the year, leaves procured
beyond May are hard and not good for plate making. People
collect it for their own use.
To collect leaves women start out early in
the morning (8 AM) and return by 2 PM. They go out in groups
and disperse as they get close to the forest. The women do
not climb the trees; they collect only the lower. When men
and women go together the efficiency is higher as the man
climb the trees close to the Adda climber and pluck the upper
leaves also. Plucking is a swift process once the leaves are
within reach. Leaves plucked with petioles and tied into bundles
of 80-100 in the forest.
After procuring from the forest, it is the
women who do the processing. At home smaller bundles of 8-10
leaves each are made. These are dried for couple of days,
once on one side then on the other. Bundles are then left
to soften in the dew during nights. During the day they are
kept in a pile with a heavy weight on top to smoothen them.
The weight is removed from the pile on the day before the
market and the leaves are tied into a stack. This process
takes 5-6 days.
During second half of collection period, community
members are engaged in agricultural works. However because
of the high demand of the product, some members of the community
collect these and try to minimise time spent on the collection.
In the process, instead of plucking leaf after leaf, they
cut large branch runners and separate them from the main tree;
and collect/ pluck the leaves on the ground. This way, the
main plant looses its capacity to produce more leaves. This
results in reduction of stock as well as decreasing the rate
of growth in some areas.
After the leaf is sufficiently dried, it
is stacked into bundles and sold to GCC. The standard method
of selling adda leaf is by making a 'pidi' in which they tie
the stems of 10-12 leafs depending on the size. 100 pidis
together are called 'dindu' that is a standard measure of
selling adda leaves. Then the stems are removed by the labourers
and packed in bundles of 40-50 KGs. People, mostly non-tribals,
from a particular area in Paderu division are adept in this
process. This area also produces the largest quantity of the
leaf in the state. The leaves are stitched together into leaf
plates used to serve or pack food and edible goods.
Adda leaves plate making is a major household
enterprise in villages. The leaves are sewn into plates using
fine pieces of stalks that hold the leaves together in the
form of a plate. The finer is the stitch, higher is the price
of the plate. About six leaves of medium size make one plate
12' in diameter. There are many villages where women have
taken up leaf plate stitching as an alternative employment.
Tribal as well as non-tribal women are involved in this. Since
it requires dextrous handiwork to stitch a plate, the women
exclusively do this work. Through the support and programmes
of FD, GCC and NGOs women have been trained in value addition
activities using sewing machines for stitching and utilizing
pressing machines to make cups and plates using the gum paper
for providing extra strength. NGOs are encouraging women to
take up the work in the SHGs. Later on the finished produces
are marketed to individual shops and retailers with the support
of NGOs and FD.
The leaves that were one of the major sources
of income for people in the past have over the years become
a scarce resource. The village elders inform that vigorous
collections have destroyed many old plants and the upcoming
ones also were harvested, giving no chance for establishing
themselves.
As regards seeds, the plant is shaken for
the seeds to fall, which are then picked. Usually the bark
peels easily. The climbers are pounded to loosen the bark
and care is taken to ensure that it is not broken. As far
as possible, after the bark is peeled, it again pounded to
remove the corky (pithy) material. The fibres thus extracted
are twined to form ropes.
Production and pricing
As per the trend shown in the figure below,
both procurement and sales of Adda leaves are declining. The
worrying feature is that sales have been mostly lower then
the procurement even beyond the normal allowance for wastage.
But at the same time prices of the produces have risen by
an impressive margin over the years. This implies that there
is a good demand in the market for the product.
Figure
: Procurement and Sales of Adda Leaves (in MT)
Figure
: Procurement and Sales Price of Adda Leaves (Rs. / KG)
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