Tribal festival reflects the culture of Adivasi people in Visakhapatnam

Tribal people say they are receiving good support from ITDA in marketing their products

Dasari Gouri and M. Polayya of Salur in Parvathipuram Manyam district, were engrossed in making bamboo baskets and decorative flowers at the ITDA-Parvathipuram stall at the tribal festival organised at RK Beach here.

“We sell the flower baskets and flower vases for ₹100 each. The demand is quite good at the expo. We take the proceeds from the sale of the products. The ITDA officials give prior intimation to us before holding exhibitions so that we can produce large quantities for sale at the expo. Our food and accommodation is taken care of by the officials,” say Gouri and Polayya, who belong to the Yerukula tribe.

“On an average we participate in two to three expos, mostly in different places in Andhra Pradesh and sometimes in neighbouring Odisha State. We are getting good support from the ITDA. When there are no expos, we make cane baskets and some decorative items and sell them at shandies in the Agency areas or send them to Visakhapatnam and other cities,” they say. “The ITDA has invited experts from Bengaluru to train us in making value added products like wooden clock, fruit stands and flower vases in different shapes,” they said

N. Lakshmi and B. Santoshi of Maritivalasa in Manyam district were seen selling agri products like turmeric, tamarind, black gram, green gram and millet biscuits at their stall. “The marketing by ITDA through these exhibitions has eliminated middlemen, who were earlier exploiting us. When there are no expos, we sell our produce through the Van Dhan Vikas Kendras (VDVKs), which have been set up by the State government, in every mandal,” says Ms. Santoshi.

A separate stall set up by ITDA-Paderu displayed agri products. “We have procured the products from different VDVKs. We get the turmeric from Pedabayalu, black pepper from Chintapalli, coffee from Anantagiri and tamrind and millet biscuits from Dumbriguda,” Padmavathi, an employee of ITDA, told The Hindu.

“We have been allotted a shop at the Tribal Museum at Araku. In all, 30 artisans are attending the expo from our group,” says V. Sukra of Mariguda panchayat. Terracota pots, decorative items like elephants and horses were on display at the stall.