SHILLONG, NOV 27: Inaugurating the seminar “North East as an Organic Hub” on Friday, Joint Secretary of Agriculture MN Nampui stated that there is a need to go back to traditional agricultural roots to realize dreams of making NE India an Organic Hub.
Nampui informed that it took almost 10 years for Sikkim to become organic state and as the state of Meghalaya has only started the mission in 2014, so it will be a long way ahead to achieve this goal. But she reiterated Meghalaya government commitment to become a complete organic state which she said is a mission for all.
Nampui informed that the last two decades of using chemical fertilizer has created a mindset which need to be changed to achieve this goal. She said, “But for any change to take place we will have to start at the grass root level of farming.”
Earlier D Khound, NERCORMP MD, said that his organization has become the potential to be the catalyst in PM’s dream to make north east an organic hub. NERCORMP has projects in 21 districts located in the most remote areas of the five north eastern states.
Dr Khound said these districts have some unique agri -product, now the agency has started branding these products which are purely organics. The agency is also capitalizing on participatory guarantee system of the farmers to commercial scale up of organic projects. He advised for low volume high value model for organic farming in NE along with geographical identification of various fruits & vegetable of NE.
Horticulture department officer S Thabah explained in details about the state organic policy in the program and also mentioned that high value organic farming can solve a lot of unemployment problem of the youth. The real challenge is to make farmers aware of the benefits of organic farming and thereby keep the youth interested in farming activities.-By Our Reporter
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