Nagaland on mission to attain self-sufficient horticulture production

COVID-19 Horticulture Special Drive team led by Commissioner & Secretary, Horticulture, Anenla Sato, IAS, held a meeting with officials of District Horticulture Office Dimapur, at State Horticulture Nursery, Green Park Dimapur on May 8. (DIPR Photo) 
 

Dimapur, May 8 (MExN): The COVID-19 Horticulture Special Drive team led by Commissioner & Secretary, Horticulture, Anenla Sato, IAS, held a meeting with officials of District Horticulture Office Dimapur, at State Horticulture Nursery, Green Park Dimapur on May 8.

Commissioner & Secretary in her keynote address said that the COVID-19 Horticulture Special Drive mission is to work to make the state self-sufficient in horticulture products. 

Sato called all the district officials to carry the message of “grow more, produce more and earn more” and to educate the farmers the Standard Operating Procedure to be followed in horticultural fields in the wake of COVID-19.

She encouraged the officers to put in practice their technical know-how knowledge not only in educating the farmers but put in practice by themselves saying that the state is blessed with natural resources and favourable climatic condition suitable for any type of crop where we can produce enough to sustain ourselves instead of depending on outside supplies of food. 

Joint Director, Horticulture, Jerry Patton while giving the technical input maintained that the aim of the team is to carry the message of the alarming situation due to COVID-19 pandemic which is affecting the crop cultivation and food supply chain. He said that the database of fruits, vegetables and spices growers is being created to map the growers to know the present strength and to establish network of market linkages for surplus produces for efficiently and timely distribution.

Terming COVID-19 pandemic a wakeup call, he also stressed on self-sufficiency and called to identify the variety of crops suitable for the climate so that the farmers can be edict accordingly. 

Deputy Director Horticulture, Dr Moa Walling while also giving the technical input suggested to revisit multilayer cropping which was successfully practiced by the forefathers and also to give thought on merging technical knowledge with the practice of the forefathers which might give better results. He also urged the officials to practice giving seeds and saplings as gifts rather than buying gifts from different shops to encourage the people to grow more. Deputy Director, Mesetuonuo, also shared her experiences.

The meeting was chaired by District Horticulture Officer, Dimapur, Temsu Longkumer while Horticulture Officer, Dimapur, Aoimrong proposed the vote of thanks. The District officials will be distributing the Standard Operating Procedure on Horticultural fields and Grow More! Produce More! Earn More! leaflet to all the farmers in the district besides collection of the database.

Need for paradigm shift 
in agri and allied policies

Tuensang: Government of Nagaland Department of Horticulture organized COVID 19 Horticulture Special Drive District Tour reached Tuensang with the theme “Grow more! Produce more! Learn more”. The team had a consultative meeting with Agri and allied, livelihood departments and KVK at Conference Hall Circuit House Tuensang on May 8.

The team was headed by Zarenthung, Additional Secretary, Horticulture Department who was accompanied by Y Bongti and Meyasashi Deputy Directors of Horticulture Department, Government of Nagaland.

Zarenthung in his speech highlighted on calibrating the agri and allied sector and livelihood sector. The recent COVID-19 pandemic may continue for uncertainty period, reason failing to invent the vaccine, and it is this time we Nagas should have to think on the self sufficient grains and food production in the state, he said. The COVID-19 scenario in India has created a workforce shortage and failing in cultivation and harvesting which will impact negatively in the national production of food grains, which will lead the citizen to die of hunger he added. It is high time for Nagaland to work hard from government level to every ramified sector to come up how to produce more along with the paradigm shift in agri and allied policies he said. It’s high time to undertake the massive empirical data collection each extracted from the field with realistic approaches, he added. To identify the excess production varieties of crops in each pockets and earmarking the same for export within the state and vice-versa, he further added.

Deputy Director of Horticulture Meyasashi also added by saying to diversify all the products of Agri and allied to that of Livelihood and emphasis of local production. He also spoke on targeting the off season production of Agri products, advancement of the infrastructural and Agri export policy.

He also highlighted on the government’s effort in development of the storage and linkage of Indian railways, Indigo and AIR India for export purposes where Indigo and AIR INDIA agreed in principle to help export 2000 KGs each perishable items to central India and Indian Railways agreed to carry 36 Tons wagon of non perishable Items twice a week. “The government of Nagaland and the Airport authority Dimapur has also agreed to make Dimapur airport a Cargo laden airport but now the problem lies in generating the export Agricultural items in Nagaland,” he said.

Later, the house discussed on channelizing the product to the market by regulating standards system of pricing and also on free movement of the employees of the Agri and Allied and livelihood department in the villages and blocks. 

The meeting concluded with the agenda to work harder, target on massive production, plan on exporting excess and marketing facilities and on paradigm shift in the policies.