Shyamkumar inaugurates aggregation and custom hiring centre at Awangkhul, Tamenglong
Source: The Sangai Express / DIPR

Imphal, June 23 2019: Horticulture and Soil Conservation Minister Thounaojam Shyamkumar inaugurated aggregation and custom hiring centre of the Reangluang Organic Farmers Producers Co Ltd, supported by the Manipur Organic Mission Agency (MOMA), Horticulture and Soil Conservation Department under the central scheme Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North Eastern Region (MOVCDNER) at Awangkhul, Tamenglong district Saturday.

Speaking as the chief guest of the function, Shyamkumar lauded the officials of the Horticulture and Soil Conservation Department for reaching out to people residing in far flung areas and timely implementing various schemes, providing benefits to the beneficiaries.

He also assured an integrated processing unit soon in the area.

Shyamkumar inaugurates aggregation and custom hiring centre at Awangkhul, Tamenglong

Stating that the Government is for the welfare of the public, he said that the Government departments and public need to go hand in hand.

Urging the farmers of the area to directly contact him or the Department officials in case they face problem in selling their produces, he requested all not to waste the valuable produces of the land and focus on organic consumption.

Assuring that all the requirements of the farmers will be fulfilled by the department under various schemes, he urged the farmers to work harder to yield more organic produces for a healthy Manipur.

K Debadutta Sharma, Mission Director, MOMA, Horticulture and Soil Conservation Department said that the aggregation unit was constructed with a cost of Rs 11.25 lakh while the input delivery unit cost Rs 6.5 lakh.

Stating that the farmers can hire the farming equipments on minimum rate from the unit, he motivated the organic farmers to produce more as the department is working tirelessly to sell the organic produces to other States.

He said that the 500 organic farmers of Noney and Tamenglong districts have received National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP) organic certification after successful completion of first, second and third year of the organic farming.

He said in the first year (2015-16) of the Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North Eastern Region (MOVCDNER) scheme, 375 farmers in their 375 hectares of land cultivated organic crops and 200 farmers cultivated king chilli and turmeric.

500 organic farmers including the king chilli farmers of the remote Sibilong have been selected in the second phase (2018-19) of the scheme, he added.

Manipur Organic Mission Agency under the aegis of the Horticulture and Soil Conservation Department has been contributing immensely in the field of organic farming in the Tamenglong and Noney districts.

MOMA had sponsored the Orange Festival in the year 2016 and contributed for the same in 2017 and 2018.It also sponsored the first King Chilli Festival held in Sibilong last year.

It also organised a 2 day workshop on organic awareness on May 30, 2019 at Tousem.

MOMA also has been providing necessary farming equipments for the farmers and a four-wheeler vehicle for transporting organic produces from the interior areas to the market.

Funds are directly transferred to the farmers in their respective bank accounts through DBT.

Through the work implemented by MOMA, success story of the farmers has increased from 10 % to 20%, said officials.

It may be mentioned that MOMA was awarded the first position in the Jaivik India Awards, 2018 under the category of State Government Agency for Northern and North Eastern States.

The State Nodal Agency MOMA since 2015 has been implementing MOVCDNER scheme under the Ministry of Agriculture and has been working with a vision to transform Manipur into a healthy and prosperous State through organic agriculture.

MOVCDNER scheme aims at development of certified organic production in a value chain mode to link growers with consumers and to support the development of entire value chain starting from inputs, seeds, certification and creation of facilities for collection, aggregation, processing, marketing and brand building initiative.