Kohima: The Village Thanamir, a small village at the foot of Mount Saramati under Kiphire district, the highest peak in Nagaland near the Indo-Myanmar border, hosted the 4th Apple Festival yesterday.
According to official sources today Nagaland Parliamentary Secretary for Horticulture Neiba Kronu, who inaugurated the festival in his address, said that Kiphire, with its rich bio-diversity would lead the way in making Nagaland a tourist destination.
Kronu said Kiphire district with its Mount Saramati, rain forest and rich bio-diversity is also an ideal horticulture zone, which can help boost local economy. He stated that the district has been giving electricity to other districts through its Likimro Hydel electric Project. Time has come for the district, the Thanamir village and adjoining villages, to supply apples to other parts of the state and even export outside, Kronu said.
In order to attract more tourists and also to boost local economy, Kronu said that villagers need to produce more apples and extend cultivation to the entire Saramati belt. He asserted that horticulture is the most viable sector to boost Nagaland’s economy. ‘Let us make this district a success story in horticulture’, Kronu said. Later, he officially declared the Thanamir as a ‘Vegetable village.’
Nagaland Parliamentary Secretary for Excise, Economics and Statistics and Legal Metrology and Consumers Protection T Torechu, who was the guest of honour, said the government as well as Nagaland Baptist Church Council have invested resources to make Thanamir an ‘income generating’ village. Torechu said apple cultivation should not only be confined to Thanamir village but extended to the entire Mount Saramati belt in order to achieve real economic prosperity. He appealed for the Thanamir villagers to share skills of apple cultivation to neighboring villages. Director of Horticulture, Watienla Jamir said that Thanamir and the entire Saramati belt has ‘eco tourism’ potential and that the Department was giving all out support to apple farmers. She informed that presently, 150 hectares of land in Thanamir village is covered by apple plantation and the department has distributed seven varieties of apple saplings to farmers.
Later, both the dignitaries plucked apples from the ‘mother apple tree’ of the village, which was planted by Youngphukhiung Yim, GB, in 1981. The history of apples in Thanamir dates back to 1981 when Youngphukhiung presented wild boar meat to Assam Rifles jawans posted in Thanamir, who in exchange gave him four apples.
Youngphukhiung planted the apple seeds in his backyard and later distributed grafts to fellow villagers. Now every household in this picturesque village has an apple tree either in the courtyard, backyard or kitchen garden. (UNI)