Income source crunch driving poppy plantation: Letpao
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, December 27 2022: A week-long national seminar on organic farming for college and university faculties, which is being organised by Botany Department of GP Women's College, DM University under the aegis of Manipur Organic Mission Agency (MOMA), has begun at the court hall of the college from Tuesday.

Speaking as chief guest of the inaugural function, horticulture and soil conservation minister Letpao Haokip opined that the reason behind mass scale poppy plantation in hill areas is due to lack of income generating opportunities in the interior part of the state.

Since poppy cultivation generates high income due to its rate in the international market, hill people look out for easy way to generate income for their living.

However, there are still several alternatives in the horticulture sector, which can bring more profit than poppy cultivation.

Creating awareness in such areas will help in preventing illegal practice of poppy cultivation, he said while urging the intellectuals to explore ways for reaching out to the interior parts of the state with such knowledge.

After the green revolution initiative taken up by the government in 1965, chemical fertilisers and pesticides have been used extensively for a long period.

Although it initially helped in increasing productivity, with the passage of time, excessive use of chemicals has reduced soil fertility and productivity as well.

But today, the country is catching up large players in the global economy with enhanced GDP and the government is focusing on organic and natural farming.

Agricultural area of the state is quite limited and jhum cultivation may not be the solution for surplus production of foods.

Since most of the hill slopes are steep, there is need to promote terrace farming instead of jhum cultivation, which can help in expanding the area used for agricultural purposes and also reduce the problem of soil erosion, the minister explained.

He further said that depending wholly on organic or natural farming is not an easy task considering the global food demand and shrinking agricultural land.

However, there is an increasing demand for organic products in the global market and the state needs to tap its unutilised potentials to become a significant producer of organic products.

At present only 37,000 hectares of land are used for organic farming and the area is less than 1 per cent of the state's total geographical area.

The state needs to explore sustainable ways to expand the area of coverage in agriculture and horticulture sectors.

Expanding the coverage area up to 50 per cent can bring surplus food production, which would result in exporting food products from the state thereby enhancing the income of farmers and the state as well, he said and also urged farmers to use organic fertiliser or manures instead of chemical fertilisers as far as possible in order to produce healthy foods.

Letpao also proposed the idea of one household, one fruit and one agricultural product, under which each and every household put their efforts to produce at least one organic product.

The minister also spoke on the initiative taken up by the horticulture department by facilitating home delivery of food items during the Covid-19 lockdown.

The department can continue such initiative and introduce an online platform so that the public can order agricultural and horticulture foods online.

He urged the participating faculties to use the knowledge they gain from the seminar in promoting organic farming among the people and contribute in making the state self-sufficient in terms of food.

GP Women's College principal and DM University, school of social science dean professor RK Tamphasana presided over the inaugural function, which was also attended by DMU vice-chancellor professor N Rajmuhon, horticulture & soil conservation director Honey Chara and DM College of Science principal & DMU School of science dean professor M Bhubaneshwari as guests of honour.

In the technical session, horticulture & soil conservation additional director and MOMA project director K Debadutta and agriculture officer Dr Jeebit spoke on 'Scope of Organic Farming in Manipur' and Unique Organic products of Manipur' respectively as resource persons.

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