Tea growers in Mon have discarded more than 10,000 kilograms of tea leaves after floods and landslides severed road connectivity to processing factories.
Just weeks after cabbage farmers in Phek district faced an unprecedented crisis due to a lack of buyers following the disruption of their traditional market in strife-torn Manipur, forcing them to sell their produce at a throwaway price of less than INR 4 per kg, tea growers in Mon found themselves in a similar predicament. A student leader recently told this newspaper that more than 10,000 kilograms of freshly plucked tea leaves from Mon were discarded after floods and landslides severed road connectivity to processing factories. The crisis unfolded after the bridge connecting Shiyong village and Tizit was washed away by floodwaters on July 19, while approach roads were damaged by multiple landslides triggered by incessant rainfall. This left tea growers from Shiyong, Wakching, Wanching, Chingtang, Tanhai and several neighbouring villages in Mon at their wits' end. It dealt a severe financial blow to hundreds of growers whose primary source of income and livelihood depends on tea cultivation. What happened to cabbage farmers in Phek and tea growers in Mon highlights a fundamental weakness in Nagaland's agricultural system: the state is simply not equipped to handle bulk production of agricultural commodities. This is despite experts, including government officials, encouraging farmers to move away from small-scale traditional farming towards a commercialised, market-oriented model through cluster-based production to boost their income.
Well, producing agricultural commodities in large volumes has several advantages. It can attract public-private partnerships and retail chains, improve supply-chain logistics and boost exports. However, large-scale production can also lead to market distress and wastage in the absence of robust market linkages, adequate infrastructure and contingency plans to deal with unforeseen market disruptions and natural calamities. Numerous farmers in Nagaland have either abandoned or drastically scaled down the production of agricultural commodities such as cabbage, kiwi, tomato, potato, cucumber and spices after suffering substantial losses due to factors ranging from inadequate and unreliable transportation to unprecedented price crashes. The recent crises in Phek and Mon could perhaps have been avoided had adequate infrastructure and effective mechanisms been in place to address market disruptions.
The Nagaland government has introduced several initiatives, including the installation of cold-storage facilities and efforts to link farmers with buyers. However, it is apparent that the state still lacks sufficient cold-chain infrastructure and processing units, particularly in remote areas, as the experience of tea growers in eastern Nagaland has demonstrated. This gap needs to be bridged with urgency. The authorities must provide farmers with real-time information on demand and market prices to avoid exploitation by middlemen and to mitigate post-harvest losses. Diversifying markets is also essential to reduce waste and maximise returns. Equally important is providing immediate relief to affected farmers in the form of financial assistance, subsidies and procurement of surplus produce at fair prices. Such interventions would help restore farmers' confidence. Debt cycles and recurring crop failures have already forced too many farmers to abandon farming altogether. Once bitten, twice shy. If the state is serious about transforming agriculture into a viable commercial enterprise and leveraging the Naturally Nagaland brand, it must provide farmers with adequate safety nets, infrastructure and access to timely market information.