Farmers get to see Meghalaya’s horticulture wealth

EMN Dimapur, December 21 An “exposure trip” to Meghalaya for members of Farmers Interest Groups (FIGs) from Kohima and Dimapur districts was undertaken from December 16 to the 20th of December. The trip was undertaken as part of programs under the National Vegetable Initiative for Urban Clusters (NVIUC). The event was organized by the department of Horticulture, Government of Nagaland under NVUIC programs for 2014-2015 (Special Scheme under RKVY). The organizers issued a note on Monday, December 21, stating the events of the visit. The group visited the ICAR Regional Centre in Barapani and the Regional Research and Training Centre, and Umran/Dewleieh farm of the department of Horticulture of the Government of Meghalaya. They also visited the ‘potato belt’ in upper Shillong coinciding with the visit for sightseeing to Cherapunjee. The visit was led by Keneitsu Lezietsu and Achinaro, horticulture assistants from the directorate of Horticulture and was coordinated by Pawan Kumar, joint director of the Horticulture department. On 17th December, the FIG groups visited the ICAR of Barapani for a tour of the different vegetable nurseries and fields, besides other research farms in the complex. The itinerary was coordinated by Dr. H. Rymbai, a scientist with the Horticulture division of the ICAR. On 18th December, the visiting team visited the RRTC at Umran, and visited various organic farms, vegetable nurseries and fields, spice processing units, food processing units, and beekeeping and poultry and floriculture unit. The resource persons from RRTC explained to the visitors about the various activities in the center and the ‘scientific aspects involved,’ according to the organizers. The team also visited the Dewleieh Horticulture Farm of the department of Horticulture of the Government of Meghalaya. At Umsing, the visiting team was also given a tour of the various hi-tech floriculture units “such as Gerbera, Sub Tropical Orchid etc, which was under taken in massive scale in the farm,” the note from the organizers said. Likewise, the team also visited the mother plant block of strawberry which the organizers of the trip said was “under hi-tech conditioned and strawberry field in the open cultivation fields. Another place the group visited was a “hi-tech root stock of citrus done undertaken in collaboration with ARGOS of Isreal for production of budded citrus planting materials.” “The officials of the farm explained in detail regarding the various activities of the farm and with good interactions with the Official visiting teams and the progressive farmers,” the note stated. On 19th December, the team also visited the Potato Belt of upper Shillong on their way to sightseeing in Cherapunjee. Sohra or Cherrapunji, is a subdivisional town in the East Khasi Hills district in the Indian state of Meghalaya. It is credited as being the wettest place on Earth, although nearby Mawsynram currently holds that record. The note stated: “The exposure trip of the FIG’s to the Meghalaya state was highly beneficial for both the FIGs and the departmental officials as they have had a firsthand experience on the various production aspects of various horticultural crops and have learnt about many new Technologies and innovative ideas from the visit to the different Farms/Institutes in Meghalaya state which can be easily adopted and replicated in our State. The team returned on 20th December 2015.”