SHILLONG: The Khasi mandarin, which is produced in Meghalaya is quite famous for its taste and Meghalaya is producing around 39,624 metric tonnes of the fruit over 24 hectares.
Apart from mandarins, pineapples are also produced in a very large way and as per the report of 2012-13, 109,393 metric tonnes of pineapples were produced in Meghalaya over 10,816 hectares.
Similarly talking about banana, the production of the tasty fruit item was 83,988 metric tonnes.
Meghalaya also has huge potential when it comes to turmeric production and the state produces around 12,831MT of turmeric while the state also produce 60,149MT of ginger.
The government is now encouraging farmers to go in for organic farming.
Officials of the department said that 90-95 percent of state farms are organic by tradition and farmers of Meghalaya will gradually accept the idea of organic farming in the future.
However, sources said that many of the farms are yet to be certified as organic by international bodies.
Sources said that the department is in the process of implementing a special programme in 26,000 hectares where farmers will be encouraged to concentrate on organic farming.
It will be a Herculean task for the department since farmers have been using pesticides and other chemicals in their farming for many years.
The concept paper of the project is being prepared and an amount of Rs 13.50 crore has been sanctioned for Mission Organic in the state in the year 2013-14.