DIMAPUR, May 3 (NNN): Commemorating the 75th year of independence ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’, a seminar on Monetising Agri-Horti Organic Potentials of North East through value chain development was held on Monday at NE Agri- Expo ‘Angh House’ in Dimapur. The seminar was organised by the Agri & Allied department, Government of Nagaland under the aegis of the ministry of DONER & NEC, Government of India.
Archana, APEDA, Guwahati, during a power-point presentation on ‘Entrepreneurship development through market-linked extension’ highlighted that APEDA was established by an act of Parliament in 1985. It is an autonomous body under the ministry of Commerce & Industries, Government of India with New Delhi as the head office and Guwahati as the regional office of NEP. She pointed out that APEDA, in collaboration with different organisations and institutions, organises capacity building, training programs, and buyers and sellers meet; promotes trade fairs, exhibitions; financial assistance schemes.
Archana then mentioned that export items of high importance from the North Eastern region are pineapple, lemon, kiwi, jackfruit, banana, passion fruit, bamboo shoots, ginger, turmeric, black rice, buckwheat, etc. She added that one can register and interact with each other through the following e-portal- https// farmerconnect.apeda.gov.in.
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Christy B Sangma, ICAR, Jharapani (near Dimapur), in her power-point presentation on the topic ‘Opportunities and Challenges for Niche Organic Products’, said that organic farming has become very important as the adverse effect of high risk of agro-chemical in general and of synthetic pesticides, in particular, have an impact on our food security and livelihood supporting system. She highlighted the benefits of organic farming, where she stated that organic farming will immensely benefit a pollution-free environment, reduce toxic residues, improve health, high production, reuse the cost of agricultural production, improve soil health and sustainability, save energy, reduce risk of crop failure.
Further, she pointed out that the challenges faced are due to supply chain issues, global competitiveness, and lack of proper handling and packaging. Also, on consumer-level challenges, she said that lack of awareness among consumers, the high cost of organic food products, and limited availability of organic food products are some challenges.
During the technical session two resource persons also gave a power-point presentation on – ‘Quantifying value-added benefits for monetising organic crops and market intelligence’, Prof L Tongpang Longkumer, SASRD, NU; Post-harvest Management & interventions by Dr I Amenla, joint director, Agriculture. While input sharing was delivered by North Eastern Council (NEC) and DoNER.
