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Dimapur, March 3 (EMN): Agriculture Production Commissioner (APC), Y Kikheto Sema said that the economic landscape in the Northeast has been gaining strong attraction in the past few years and the region has been blessed with all agro-climatic conditions with huge prospects for organic farming.
However, ‘fortunately, or unfortunately the region has been quite untouched by the green revolution and the farmers in the region still rely on traditional farming techniques, and modern technologies are yet to be adopted for the economic value of production,’ he said.
The APC was speaking at a session on Export Promotion and Marketing Development of Organic Food Products from Northeast organised by the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (Apeda) in collaboration with Nagaland government and Indian Chamber of Commerce at Hotel Saramati on Thursday.
Sema stated that the Northeast has a total area of 18.37 million hectare (183.70 lakh hectare), out of which 5.5 million hectare, (55.00 lakh hectare) is cultivated land but organic farming covers only 3%, which is around 2.75 lakh hectare. Meanwhile, the total area registered under the National Programme for Organic Production is 43.39 lakh hectares.
Therefore, bringing more areas under organic farming in the region will fulfill the nation’s desired goal, he said.
He acknowledged the Apeda for its contribution to the organic sector in the country, saying that immense progress has been made in the past few years along with the Indian Chamber of Commerce. He shared that more comprehensive exercises could be undertaken to venture out and explore the export potential with respect to quality and quantity, keeping in mind that the farmer’s premium is also taken into account as a remunerative enterprise.
Sema added that 45% of pineapple in India is from the Northeast which includes Nagaland as well, 54% of cardamom in the world is from India with Sikkim contributing 88% of this, while Nagaland exports King Chili, coffee and brown rice.
He maintained that some of the challenges and issues were the traditional farming system, which is not viable and feasible; water scarcity and security issues; road, power, storage, transportation challenges, lack of farmer-friendly schemes, lack of modern technologies and market linkages etc.
He also informed that the Organic AC market at Agri Expo was able to sell 235 metric tonne (MT) (2.35 lakh kg) of organic vegetables post-pandemic within one year.
He added that the state government will be organising more capacity building programmes, exhibitions, buyer and seller meet, farmers’ exposure in the coming years.
He also requested the Spice Board of India for a cardamom auction centre in Nagaland to facilitate farmers.
Joint Director of ICAR research complex Dimapur, Dr. Dipjyoti Rajkhowa said that they need an inclusive approach to solve the water problem and added that the region has the strength to export products but do not have a marketable surplus and even organised cultivation of crops.
He stated that they need a ‘very strong extension national system’ as more than 25% of technologies are not reaching the farmer’s fields and even the farmers are not aware of the market and storage facilities.
Rajkhowa said that the region has resources, land and a dynamic workforce but lacks capacity building and skills. He expressed the need to promote organised cultivation to create a marketable surplus to export.
He also stressed on inclusive agricultural development policy, post-harvest management and adequate storage facilities; and to promote water technology especially in hilly regions.
Awareness is the number one strategy to be followed, he said and added that with the right technology, market knowledge and with organic certification in place, many of the problems can be solved.
The inaugural session was followed by a technical session and the resources persons were the director of Horticulture government of Nagaland, Dr. R E Lotha; additional director of Agriculture Nagaland, Nyenghong Phom; joint director Ministry of MSME government of India, Tali Longchar; senior field officer of Spices Board of India, Vevotalu Rhakho; senior marketing officer in charge, directorate of Marketing and Inspection, Tapash Bhattacharjee and regional head of small farmers’ Agri-Business Consortium, Santosh Das.