By Obiabin Onukwugha
At a time when biotechnology is being adopted by many countries and communities, the Meghalaya state in northeast India is hand-holding its farmers towards organic farming, which is the original form of agriculture in the state.
It was learnt that close to 75% of Meghalaya citizens are farmers and predominantly agrarians. Some unique products native to Meghalaya, have drawn the attention of global markets because of the ability of indigenous farmers to handhold and continue the practice of predominantly organic farming practice in the state.
Besides the major food crops of rice and maize, the State is also renowned for its Horticulture crops like Orange, Lemon, Pineapple, Guava, litchi, Banana, Jack Fruits and temperate fruits such as Plum, Pear, Peach.
Recently, the Meghalaya people held a one day Bharat Agri Conclave cum International Buyer-Seller Meet program in Shillong.
The event was organized by the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) in collaboration with the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare in Meghalaya.
The event was to link the producers and processors of Meghalaya with buyers from India and abroad.
Over 70 buyers from India and 12 other countries had a glance at the unique products which the state had to offer.
The event displayed a wide range of agricultural products, including organic fresh fruits and vegetables, processed food products, spices such as Lakadong turmeric, natural honey, aromatic rice, pulses, and others.
Additionally, 106 FPOs/FPCs, cooperative societies, and producer groups also took part in the event.
Speaking, the Meghalaya Agriculture & Family Welfare Minister, Dr Mazel Ampareen Lyngdoh said the primary objective of the event was to promote agri-horti products in the Northeast, especially those from Meghalaya.
She emphasized the tremendous potential of the state in offering and contributing agricultural produce to domestic and global markets.
“There is no doubt that in the vegetable sector, we are still tormented by the dependency on inorganic fertilizers, and slowly, the state of Meghalaya is now hand-holding the farmers towards organic farming, which is the original form of farming in the state,” she said.
Speaking on the occasion, Meghalaya agriculture commissioner, Dr Vijay Kumar, shared the initial success story of the first export shipment of Khasi Mandarin (GI) and pineapple to the Middle East.
He outlined the vision of the state government to scale up such initiatives of exports of local products to international markets to increase farmers’ income.
APEDA chairman Abhishek Dev emphasized the export potential of agricultural products from Meghalaya.
He also outlined various initiatives to augment organic exports from the state and ease the organic certification process and further added that APEDA is expediting the accreditation of more certification bodies, especially from the Northeast, in the interest of the local organic farmers.
The exclusive Buyer Seller Meet in Meghalaya provided an opportunity for producers and processors of Meghalaya to showcase their products to global and domestic buyers.