Food processing: Nagaland still in ‘pre-school’

Kohima Bureau
Kohima, Jan. 25 (EMN): ‘Nagaland is still in the preschool stage of food processing if we were to compare to the institution for food processing,’ said Abokali Jimomi, founder of a local outlet for organic food, Organic Nagaland. She was speaking at a seminar on food processing and food processing Investors’ conclave that was held at Hotel De Oriental Grand in Kohima on Jan. 25.
The program was organized by the North Eastern Regional Agricultural Marketing Corporation (NERAMAC) Limited in collaboration with the North Eastern Council (NEC).
Jimomi was a speaker for a session of the event. She has been promoting organic farming in Nagaland for the past seven years. She said that the state lacks d infrastructure and knowledge, besides being faced with ‘technological problems.’ The hurdles must be overcome to ensure growth of the food processing sector in the state.
Also, Jimomi observed that over the past 20-30 years, ‘there is no visibility of progress’ despite many programs including schemes and projects for food processing in the state by different stakeholders and the government itself.
An entrepreneur herself, Jimomi observed that there was a need for stakeholders to understand the idea of the value chain and how they are important to making everyone’s profit in the chain impact livelihood and economic income. Creating a value chain is important for the growth of organic farming and marketing, she said.
The speaker suggested also that the globalized market had now ‘too many products in the market.’ She said, ‘We cannot think that our product is local and that buyer will buy but rather compete with the other products if there had to be growth.’
“We need to make our product marketable so that we can take it outside the state,” said Jimomi.
Gunajit Brahma from the Jeev Anksh Eco-Products (P) Ltd. in Assam, was a speaker at a session too. He gave a brief history of the company and how local produce is marketed to outside the state. He spoke also about the essentiality and importance of the food processing industry. In the second session, he spoke about the potential Nagaland has in food processing.