Connecting Farm to Market– an organic Agri bazaar was inaugurated Thursday, under Mission Organic Value Chain Development (MOVCD) NER at Urban Haat, Walford colony, Dimapur.
Speaking on the occasion as special guest, director of Agriculture, M Ben Yanthan informed that the state government has registered the brand “Naga Organic” with the mission to encourage FPOs and entrepreneurs to sell their produce under the brand. He said the brand was to facilitate marketing access under the ownership of grower’s organizations.
Yanthan also said that so far six thousand hectares have been certified as organic and seven thousand hectare under conversion with compliance to National programme for organic production by OneCert International Pvt. Ltd as certifying agency.
He reminded that organic agriculture offered trade opportunities to farmers of the north east including Nagaland as organic produce was expected to grow globally in the next few years. Yanthan said taking the opportunity, the state government envisages in investment on organic farming so that growers could reap rich dividends out of the growing demands.
Yathan also said MOVCD NER was started in the year (2015-16) and that so far, 11 FPOs and three FPC were formed with specific crops such as ginger, large cardamom, rajma, brown rice, king chilli, fruits and vegetables for organic certification under MOVCD NER.
He however lamented that though Nagaland has surplus quality produce of cereal, pulses, spices, fruits and vegetables but there was lack of a separate and organised bazaar. This deprived farmers of premium prices while potential consumers were not well informed about benefits of organic vegetables.
He also said in addition, many of the roadside vendors also face a lot of hardship due to lack of marketing shed and unhygienic environment.
Earlier, delivering welcome address Nofa promoter and Nagaland Organic Connect executive director Abea Mero said organic farming was the pertinent need of an hour in the state today. She asserted that North east region was considered to be an organic hub for India, and therefore , Government of India was according major focus for the region with regard to promotion of organic farming. She said MOVCD for NER was one great step taken by the government of India to develop value chain development for specific crops in the region.
Mero mentioned that the states like Sikkim already declared as an organic state, has with 75000 hectares of land under organic cultivation while Meghalaya aimed to convert 2,00,000 hectare into organic farmland by 2020. She said Nagaland with all its potential needs to move with the pace with this scenario.
Mero said Nagaland has very high potential to be an important organic state of the country and an organic value chain for the North East Region.
Mero informed that Nagaland under MOVCD has about 17,000 ha involving more than 17,000 farmers, covering almost all districts of the state who were engaged with resource institutes like Shibha Welfare and Eleuthros Christian Society. The main focus crops were Naga king chilli, ginger, turmeric, large cardamom, rajma, glutinous rice, pineapple, passion fruit & kiwi and the certifying agency is One Cert Pvt Ltd. Besides this, various other departments (Soil, Vety., LRD, etc), Research Institutes like ICAR, CIH, SASRD, NU, other Central organisations (CIH, APEDA, NHB, NEC), Other Organisations (NERAMAC, NEDFI etc), NGOs and Private sectors are all involved in organic farming promotional activities in the state .
She also spoke on the need to equip the youth who were organic enthusiast by encouraging, inspiring and motivating them to play their role in taking forward the state to greater heights in the organic sector
The programme was chaired by Sosangdangba Yaden and special number was presented by Kevinato Achumi and friends. Vote of thanks was delivered by Naga Women Hoho vice president Vimeno Liegise.