Organic Manipur brand launched
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, January 28 2018: Conveying that organic stores/outlets will be opened in Bishnupur, Thoubal and Imphal East districts in the first week of February this year, Horticulture and Soil Conservation Minister Th Shyamkumar stated today that machines to authenticate organic products will be also made available at the stores.

He was speaking as the chief guest at the brand launching ceremony of "Organic Manipur" organized by RK Fortune Developers Private Limited under the aegis of Manipur Organic Mission Agency (MOMA), Department of Horticulture and Soil Conservation and Department of Agriculture at Sangai Hall, Imphal Hotel.

Maintaining that the general people usually buy products at vendors and stores if they are said to be organic products without even thinking of the authenticity of the claims, Shyamkumar observed that there is the need to install machines to authenticate organic products in organic shops.

He also urged the farmers and public to shun the general belief that vegetables do not grow properly without putting fertilizers and encouraged utilization of manures and other methods like vermicomposting in agriculture.

Manipuri society will become healthier and the invasion by serious diseases can be resisted if organic farming system is widely practised in the State and consumption of intoxicants like tobacco products is avoided, he said.

Emphasizing the need of accountability in making Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North East Region (MOVCDNER) a success and promoting organic farming system in the State, Shyamkumar pointed out that farmers who apply for MOVCDNER need to be well trained.

He declared that beneficiaries of the scheme will be identified by assessing their (farmers) works apart from transferring monetary allocation only through DBT.

The Minister added that mass cultivation of agricultural crops and trees will be taken up in the hill areas.

In his key note address, MOMA's Project Director K Debadutta Sharma asserted that MOMA covers 5000 hectares of land for organic cultivation in the State including black aromatic rice, pineapple, king chilli, turmeric, Kachai Lemon etc.

Stating that launching of brand Organic Manipur is an indication of the successful implementation of organic scheme in the State, he said it is an initiative of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare, Government of India under MOVCDNER.

Dr J Suresh Babu, Additional Chief Secretary, Horticulture & Soil Conservation and Home, Professor JM Laishram, Dean, College of Agriculture, CAU, RK Rameshwar Singh, MD, RK Fortune Developers Pvt.

Ltd and K Kipgen, Member Secretary, MOMA also attended the function as the guests of honor and president respectively.

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