Nagaland bagged seven prestigious national awards in Van Dhan Vikas Yojana (VDVY) and Minimum Support Price (MSP) scheme for exemplary performance in different categories.
The scheme is being implemented under Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED), Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) with Department of Under-Developed Areas (DUDA), Marketing & Consumers’ Federation Ltd (MARCOFED) and Nagaland Bee Keeping & Honey Mission (NBHM) as implementing agencies and Environment, Forest, Climate Change as the State’s nodal department.
Nagaland managed to receive the awards because of the close coordination of various departments and proactive support from people at large. The State topped in three different categories, including Best Survey, Best Training and the most number of Van Dhan Vikas Clusters (VDVKCs) established, besides receiving the third position in Best Sales Generated at Rs 115,86,000 and Innovation and Creativity.
The State was also awarded for innovative & creative product ideas for gooseberry wine with Toka Multipurpose Society Ltd as supplier and mushroom cultivation with NBHM as the supplier. Under VDVY scheme, Nagaland has 206 clusters comprising 2,805 SHGs and 61,800 beneficiaries throughout the State.
The awards were announced virtually by Union Minister for Tribal Affairs Arjun Munda on the occasion of TRIFED’s 34th foundation day celebrated on August 6 at TRIFED headquarters, New Delhi. VDVK and MSP for Minor Forest Produce (MFP) scheme focuses on farmers’ entrepreneurship programme through processing, packaging, branding and marketing of locally available products. Chief secretary is the chairman of State Level Coordination and Monitoring Committee of the scheme.