New Delhi: The Khasi Mandarin orange grown exclusively in Meghalaya which was accorded geographical indication (GI) recently will now be cultivated in a better way thanks to help from faraway Israel, official sources informed here on Tuesday.
David Ashkenazy, business and development head of Israel-based ARGOS (Agri Projects) Ltd. in India, was invited to offer a development project in Meghalaya after the State’s Horticulture Department saw the success of ARGOS’s seven-year Citrus Development Project in Mizoram.
ARGOS has offered to set up an advanced repository/ scion bank for mother plants, set to be the first of its kind in Meghalaya, along with a hi-tech nursery.
A nursery is the most important of infrastructures necessary for the research and development of citrus fruits in order to improve the variety of Khasi Mandarin orange in the State. It will also help gradual phasing out of old trees and offer quality growing materials free from pathogens for farmers of the State.
In order to offer a feasible and practical infrastructure, ARGOS had installed its very own all-in-one greenhouse on a 2684 sq.m. plot of land at Horti Hub in Umsning, Ri Bhoi District including a scion bank for 492 healthy mother plants, nursery for healthy seedlings with an annual yield of around 25000, a workspace, a warehouse and a field office.
It is a complete ready to install package with all necessary components for the project and also a computerized system for control throughout the entire structure, the sources said.
Informatively, as many as nine organic and exotic agricultural produce of the North East including the Khasi Mandarin were accorded geographical indication (GI) registry with the exception of Memang narang – a wild species of orange which grows in the Garo Hills region.
GI tag is a certification which indicates the distinctiveness of the product’s origin in a particular geographical location and carries an assurance of quality of that particular product.
Khasi Mandarin is considered to be the best orange in India as certified by the Union Ministry of Horticulture beating the myth that Nagpur orange are better.
North Eastern Regional Agricultural Marketing Corporation Limited (NERAMAC) pioneered the move to get the GI tag with the North Eastern Council giving financial support to the initiative, the sources said. This tag makes these products exclusive and special local crops of the region.
NERAMAC took the initiative to protect these special crops about four years ago and the GI tag will help in branding these crops.
NERAMAC had applied for GI tags for 10 agro products of the North East, but only the Memang narang orange did not get GI tag as the process was yet to be completed.
