State to start reproduction of 'Magfruit' fruit juices
Source: Chronicle News Service
Imphal, January 13 2022:
The 18th edition of the Kachai; Lemon (Champra) Festival began on Thursday at Kachai village local ground in Ukhrul district.
Opening function of the two-day long festival which is being organised by Kachai Fruit Farming & Processing Cooperative Society Limited was attended by additional chief secretary (horticulture & soil conservation) P Vaiphei as chief guest and director (horticulture & soil conservation) Hani Charana as president while MOMA project director K Devdutta Sharrha and Bharat River Valley Development Board project director N Loyalakpa attended as the guests of honour.
In his address, P Vaiphei expressed delight to witness packaging of lemon products in attractive manner and participation of more than 260 stalls in the festival.
He said that Kachai lemon and products made from it would not only improve socio-economic condition of farmers living in Kachai but also of the nearby villages and the region.
Some infrastructure developed by the department so far might not be to the satisfaction of the farmers but the department would extend more help, he assured and stressed the need for taking care of pests which are prone to affect lemon trees and prevent the same in time.
According to P Vaiphei, preparation for reviving production of fruit juices under brand name 'Magfruit' has been made and construction of a factory for the same has been completed.
Running of the modernised and more capacity factory will begin soon and requisite financial requirement for running the factory too has been earmarked.
Until recently, the department was worried about procurement of raw materials for the factory particularly lemon and pineapple but now the department will be able to run the factory with raw materials from different parts of the state, he said and appealed to farmers not to worry about marketing their farm produces.
He also said that the department will construct a cold storage at Kachai so that lemon produces of the village could be stored to prevent spoiling due to unfavourable weather conditions and road communication.
In his speech, K Devdutta Sharma said that the 18th edition of Kachai Lemon (Ghampra) Festival is much bigger than the earlier editions of the festival and lemon production of the village too has increased three times than last year.
In the year 2016, only 32,000 lemon plants were grown in Kachai but more (;han two lakh lemon plants are growing in the village today and lemon production too has increased eight-fold, he added.