Director lauds media for promoting organic farming
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, May 15 2024: Horticulture and Soil Conservation director K Devdutta has acknowledged the role of media in spreading awareness about organic farming and its benefits amongst the public.

Speaking as chief guest during inauguration of a two-day media sensitisation programme on Horticulture schemes organised by All Manipur Working Journalists' Union (AMWJU) as part of its golden jubilee celebration, at the Loktak Hall of Manipur Press Club, here, on Wednesday, Devdutta expressed that without the media, no matter how much efforts different departments make, it would be difficult to disseminate information to the masses on various issues.

Similarly, the media has been playing a pivotal role in disseminating and updating information about organic farming to the people, he reiterated.

Explaining the differences between Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North East Region (MOVCD-NER) and other schemes, Devdutta said that while other schemes are limited only to distribution of saplings or seeds and does not cover the guidelines of the state and centre, Mission Organic Scheme is involved right from the start.

It covers how to plant the sapling/ seed, maintain quality, processing and tagging the product, and branding it for global market, along with other support.

Under this scheme, pineapples from Manipur have been exported to Dubai, he conveyed.

The director continued that conveying information about the products through the media is an easy way of informing the consumers of the same.

While the people of the state do consider whether the food they are consuming is healthy or not, a close examination would prove that most edibles are unfit for human consumption.

As such, all procedures related to organic farming should be produced while maintaining quality, he asserted, while urging the media to take the role of informing the public on whether the food items are safe or not.

Devdutta then said that when it was found that pineapples and Chak-hao (black rice) could be sent to Australian and Japanese markets, the municipality concerned conducted tests for every product.

A sample of Chak-hao alone was tested under 140 parameters.

One should question the cautionary levels with regard to the state and country in comparison to the mentioned countries, he remarked.

Stating that it is easy to carry out organic farming in the hill areas, he noted that the valley area, regarded as the vegetable pocket, uses chemical fertilisers excessively, making it onerous to instantly transform the areas into organic farming, especially as farmers plant crop with high hopes of earning commensurate with their efforts.

Informing that the central government is likely to approve a scheme under Good Agricultural Practices in 1-2 years in this regard, he said that the products produced under GAP in adherence with the guidelines would be accepted by the global market.

Once the government implements the scheme, the valley areas would greatly benefit from the same, he said and urged the media to take on a proactive role with regard to organic programmes organised so as to help in building a healthy state.

In his speech as the functional president, AMWJU president Bijoy Kakchingtabam expressed that as the media plays an important role by being the eyes and ears of the people, the sensitization programme has been organised with the objective of enhancing knowledge base of media persons.

He then said that horticulture will play an important role in bringing about a healthy society through production of quality organic produces by farmers with adoption of good farming techniques.

The programme was also attended by ICAR NE Region Centre, Imphal principal scientist Dr IM Singh as guest of honour.

During the technical session, MOMA project director Donald Soubam spoke on the Role of Manipur Organic Mission (MOMA) in Agriculture development in Manipur' as resource person.

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