Our Correspondent
Kohima, Nov. 21 (EMN): The Entrepreneurs’ Associates (EA) will be launching a plantation programme ‘Trees for Wealth Movement,’ on November 22 in Kohima. The business capacity group aims to ‘make Nagaland a fruit hub of India,’ by planting 100 million fruit trees by 2035, with 100,000 people planting an average 1000 fruit trees.
The group hopes to trigger profitable nurseries, cold chain and food processing industries in Nagaland.
Speaking to the press on Thursday, Neichuite Duolo, CEO of the EA, said that the movement will support at least 50 farmers in 200 villages totalling to 10,000 farmers in five years, ensuring that each farmer plants 200-300 fruit trees with 50 percent sapling cost incentive from the EA and 50 percent of the cost borne by farmers.
“We are looking at generating INR 5 lakh income annually to a farmer in the village and this means cumulatively INR 500 crore annual income will flow in for ten thousand rural farm families in Nagaland by 2028,” he said. The hope is that such a rural enterprise will not only slow down rural migration to the urban areas, which is taking place at a frightening pace, but will in the long-run reverse urbanisation.
‘We hope such economic opportunities created by agro-based forestry will inspire our youths to see opportunities in land-based economics rather than just jobs in the cities. Fruit trees are only one among many innovations that the EA will be launching in the coming years,’ he added.
The EA has been continuously experimenting with fruit trees such as avocado, ‘Naga apple,’ lemons, and cashew nuts with mixed results. “We failed with Khasi mandarin and cashew nuts but the others were a success which made us think big,” he said.
He mentioned that persimmon and avocado have given a good harvest in Nagaland. The organisers said to introduce better species of different native fruits for market production. “For income generation we will have to consciously plant some better varieties,” he added.
‘We want to go for mixed cropping and not mono culture and our experience has been giving very good culture,’ he said. ‘With the movement, we are building upon the fragmented land holding patterns of the Nagas, which for a long time we thought it a deterrent for agriculture development.’ He urged farmers to plant in their land wherever its size is. If they can demonstrate that this movement is successful then “this to me is going to be a game changer,” he said.
Benjamin Vinito Chishi, program manager at EA, said the organisers are planning to work with farmers in terms of spreading awareness about the various kinds of sustainable farming practices. He appealed to government organisations or nongovernmental groups who can give this kind of information to the farmers.
‘We want to spread information as much as we can, and those related to environmental deforestation and other farming practices that can harm the environment,” he said.
Susan Angami, lead trainer at EA, said planting trees is for prosperity. Ownership of the movement will come naturally because the ‘instinctive thing is to take care of the trees.’
The organisers informed that the movement will not be sponsored by the government or through foreign funds but hoped that “some of our business partners and corporate houses will come to support such a noble initiative.”
