Lack of funds hindering agriculture entrepreneurship

Dimapur, October 2 : Agriculture entrepreneurship in Nagaland is understood to be limited from growing into investment and business expansion–it required long-term visibility of funds to pull together necessary resources.

28-year old Naga lad Katoho S Achumi was in the news recently for landing a spot among 22 agricultural entrepreneurs in the country and the youngest amongst them. The achievement is a positive signal to aspiring entrepreneurs.

A B.Sc (forestry) graduate from Dehradun, Achumi’s journey started when he enrolled for a training at North East Naga Traders Private Limited (NENTPL), a scheme under the Ministry of Agriculture.
He encountered ‘Arise launch pad for agri-entrepreneurs’ through his mentor Kathi Chishi, managing director and nodal training officer of the NENTPL to whom the young man credits his position today.

Accounting his success story to Eastern Mirror, Katoho Achumi remarked there were ‘lots of challenges faced by agriculture entrepreneurs such as lack of technical expertise and skilled personnel’ where farmers are sceptical to new innovations, lack of awareness but the most significant challenge is the lack of funding facilities in Nagaland.’

Concerning support of government bodies in terms of network support to ‘agripreneurs’, Achumi disclosed there were various central sponsored schemes that provide ecosystem building and incubation support to entrepreneurs. There are government bodies that provide research and development, skill development and training support. ‘But Nagas are ignorant and unaware of such opportunities,’ he said.

“Even though there is a lot of potential in agricultural sector, the level of exposure for investors in the northeast agricultural sector is low thus only a few investors are active in this sector as compared to e-commerce and other sector,” the entrepreneur said.

Also, he said that agriculture was a ‘stage-based operation system which provides opportunities at every stage from soil working to harvesting, processing and marketing.’

It may be noted that out of 500 applicants from all over India, 60 were selected for the final selection at the Arise Launch Pad for entrepreneurs conducted by Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI). After which only 22 were selected with Katoho S Achumi among them and also the youngest. He found the final spot for his project ‘Pine Resin Extraction’ based on the pine resin industry in Nagaland and northeast India, in general.

Explaining his project, Achumi said that the northeast was abundant in pine. But he lamented: But the only way people use this resource is cutting down the trees and using it for timber, handicrafts and decorative purposes.

“Pine resin extraction is a way to stop cutting down of trees and earn from the standing pine trees. It is a year round activity which involves extraction of resin from the pine trees and processing the extracted resin to get its by-products i.e. rosin and turpentine oil which is used in various industries” he said.

Achumi’s project “Pine resin extraction” stands at a deal of Rs.6.5 crore and with a spot among the 22; he will be in face-off with the investors in December.