Sal is the major specie of the state. Most
of the Sal forest of the state is located in the districts
of Midinapore, Bankura and Purulia. Of the total forest area
in these three districts, nearly ¾th area is covered
by Sal. Apart from its timber which is highly valuable, its'
leaf and seed are important NTFPs. While the seed is used
in extraction of oil that has multiple uses, the leaf is used
for making plates and cups utilised in serving food items.
Both leaf and seed hold high commercial importance in the
states where the trees are found abundantly.
Though MP, Bihar and Orissa account for most of the Sal forests
in the country, West Bengal, specially the southwest part,
has sizeable presence of the specie. This can be known from
the fact that the state comes 5th in terms of Sal seed production,
accounting for nearly 2.5% of the total for the country.
Leaf
Sal leaf is the most remunerative item in
the southwest part of the state. It contributes significant
income for most part of the year to poor families. This is
because, of all NTFPs, Sal leaf has a somewhat established
trade channel and the trees are widely available in the region
even after accounting for degradation. It gains importance
in the livelihood of the families as it gives income during
the time when people have few other alternatives. A study
done in 1993 says that nearly 3.6 lakh people are dependent
on the Sal leaf trade in the three districts of southwest
WB (Sal leaf market in WB, IIFM Working Paper, 1993). Another
crucial factor is that the women members of a family are engaged
in this economic activity more then the male members.
Households engaged in leaf plate making are
economically backward in the respective village, as few of
them own any agricultural land. The male members of these
families work as wage labourers in others' land during sowing
and harvesting. It is the women and children who work in collecting
and processing Sal leaf while male members join during the
off- agriculture season. So despite the fact that Sal leaf
plate making gives very low returns in comparison to the labour
employed, the poor families engage themselves in it due to
lack of alternatives.
Collectors prefer to go to forest for collection
of Sal leaves early in the morning and go on plucking for
about 5-6 hours. Then they make bundles of the leaves with
creepers or ropes while some of them pack leaves in gunny
bags and return to the village with head loads of leaves by
lunchtime. The women folk take care to collect mature leaves
and usually pluck the accessible leafs, as they do not climb
trees. The women also avoid lopping the branches as far as
possible.
Then in the afternoon and evening they start
stitching plates and bowls. Here all the available family
members join to process into plates and cups. If the quality
of the leaves is good then 7 leaves are required to make a
plate but if the quality is not good then it requires 10-12
leaves. From Feb. to June the quality of leaves are good and
in the rest of the season the quality is very poor. Then they
sun dry the plates and make bundles containing 20-25 plates.
The average time spent by a collector in collection of Sal
leaves in the forest is 6-8 hours and during that time he
can collect 500 leaves. This includes the time required to
travel to the forest and back. A person can make 100 plates
in an hour that fetches Rs. 6 - 8 in the market at the current
prices. Palas leaves are also used for preparation of plates
but the price is lower i.e. Rs 5-6/- per 100 plates.
Villagers are not charged any amount for
Sal leaf collection from the forest. However, the Sal leaf
meant for commercial purpose is charged royalty at the rate
published in the schedule of rates for forest produce in the
respective circles. So the traders transporting Sal leaf in
bulk for trading has to get a Transit permit from the forest
department at the following rates. Besides these rates, the
forest department collects an export fee for exporting Sal
leafs outside the respective range. The rate of the export
fee as per 1989 schedule is Rs. 50 per 10 quintals or part
thereof.
| |
Daily
Head load |
Daily
bullock load |
Daily
Buffalo load |
Monthly
head load |
Truck load |
| Dry Sal leaf |
0.15 |
4.00 |
6.00 |
- |
120 |
| Green Sal leaf |
0.15 |
8.00 |
- |
3.00 |
200 |
With the advent of mechanisation in Sal leaf
plate making, raw plates are heat pressed into appropriate
shapes. These machine made plate units use traditional hand
made plates as raw material and convert them into smooth plates
with raised sides and stronger and leak proof base. Some of
them use finer plastics or cardboards to hold the base together.
These plates have good demand in urban areas. This has become
a small-scale enterprise in the areas where Sal leaf is available.
Starting from wholesaler traders and rural unemployed youth,
rural SHGs have also got into the business. Institutions have
also developed technologies where the electricity-operated
machines have been replaced with alternative fuels that can
be operated in the rural areas. However with this value addition,
the costs increase and since a selective clientele only requires
it, there is a need of looking for the markets.
| Putuwall Modi, a 52 years old lady resides
in village Ghantihulli of Bandwan Block, Purulia district.
She is busy making Sal leaf plates throughout the year.
Apart from that she also collects Mahua flower, KL, and
mushroom etc. But her major income comes from Sal plates.
According to her Sal leaves is available in the forest
in plenty and her average income in the peak season is
Rs 18/- per day. For her Sal leaves are more remunerative
than KL. She spends a maximum of 5 hours in the forest.
The time spent in travel is 1 hour. She takes one hour
to stitch 100 plates and she makes 300 plates per day
in the last three days prior to haat day and sells at
Rs 6/- per 100 plates in the nearby Bandwan market. Usually
one of her two children accompany in collection of leafs
and making of plates. |
The system of selling Sal leaf by the villagers
differs from area to area in the region. The same household
may sell the leaf plats to a commission agent, a retailer,
and a wholesaler or even to the direct consumer depending
upon his or her position and accessibility. But by the very
nature of the produce (that is not very sophisticated) and
trade, the whole trade channel starting from collector to
consumer is established and competitive.
Commission agent - These agents are engaged
by wholesalers on a commission basis who visits the households
of the nearby villages almost daily on a bicycle and collects
leaf plates from the primary collectors making spot payment.
The villagers who have lesser access to the wholesalers due
to the distance factor dispose their produces this way. This
happens in areas where number of traders or the volume of
transaction is very high.
Local wholesaler - this would be located in
a local trading town or a district headquarter depending on
volume of business, who directly or through the commission
agents procure plates and then sell them to the next level
at the district level or Kolkotta, as the case may be. The
wholesalers have storage space and also give the produce to
the next level on credit. They also bear the cost of transit
pass and transport. Some of the wholesalers have established
machines for converting hand made plates.
Wholesaler - these are based in Kolkotta
and purchase leaf plates and bowls from wholesalers of Bankura,
Midinapore, and also from Orissa. When a truckload of Sal
leaf plates arrive in the market, the traders distribute the
plates among themselves in mutually agreeable quantities.
One peculiarity of this market is that almost all the traders
hail from Fatuha, a small town near Patna in Bihar.
Retailer - The plates are sold to consumers
through retailers. The retailers purchase plates from wholesalers
or sometimes directly from the collectors. For the retailers
Sal leaf is just one of the items that (s)he sells.
The following figure gives the details of the trade channel
in case of Sal leaf collection and processing. It is not essential
that all the Sal leaf collected go through the same channel.
As said before the channel depends on location of the village
and its accessibility to the market. The channel accordingly
becomes short or long with the number of intermediaries changing
depending on the situation.
Figure
: Trade Channel of Sal Leaf |
