Kalahandi Kendu Leaf Bidi Forest NTFP Economy Odisha

Kalahandi district in western Odisha is one of India's largest kendu leaf (Diospyros melanoxylon, the tendu tree) producing areas, where tribal collectors harvest the waxy oval leaves from the sal-kendu mixed forest in May-June under Forest Department contracts that provide critical seasonal income before the kharif paddy harvest. The kendu leaf is the primary raw material for bidi cigarettes — hundreds of millions of leaves from Kalahandi supply bidi rolling units in Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, and Maharashtra. Kalahandi has experienced severe food insecurity and distress migration historically — the 1987 Kalahandi famine that saw child sale and starvation deaths brought the district's poverty to national attention and drove major government welfare programmes.