Water melon festival in June
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, May 26 2013:
The second State Level Water Melon organised by Nahakpam Foundation for Development will be held from june 1 to 10 at Iboyaima Shumang Leela Shanglen, Palace Compound, said Foundation ambassador Sophia Mayengbam today during a press conference at the Foundation's North AOC office.
Informing that 15 to 20 stalls would be opened at the festival, Sophia said the Foundation will present water pump to the water-melon farmer who produces the largest and heaviest water-melon.
Along with a painting competition for class I to V students, an interaction programme for farmers will also be organised on the second day of the festival, said the ambassador and added that an entertainment programme would mark the event's closure.
Conveying that water-melons to be displayed at the festival were grown in 200 hectares of land out of seeds distributed to the farmers in the previous festival, she also regretted that there would about 40 percent decline in the production due damage caused to plantation sites following heavy rainful in the recent weeks.
It is also said the Foundation submitted a memorandum to the Horticulture Minister with a proposal for some budgetary allocation to assist water-melon growers so that Manipur do not depend on water-melon imported from other States.