Valentine Strawberry Festival on Feb 13

SHILLONG:  In its bid to help strawberry farmers  promote their products,   a group of young people from Ri Bhoi district is venturing into a selfless path to help others get back on their feet.
This enthusiastic group who call themselves ‘Young Mind Association’ has come up with a plan to boost strawberry cultivation in the district by empowering farmers through various ways and the ‘Valentine Strawberry Festival’ is one such initiative.
Addressing a press conference here in the city on Thursday, president of Young Mind Association, Richard Lyngdoh said the association will organize Valentine Strawberry Festival in a bid to help the strawberry farmers in Ri Bhoi district.
The Valentine Strawberry is slated to be held on February 13 at the Water Sports Complex, Umiam Lake from 10.30 am onwards.
The Association rued that strawberry farmers face lot of hardships especially when it comes to getting access to seeds, as the seeds used are hybrids which are not available in the country and can only be imported from America.
He said that there are as many as 200 strawberry farmers from various villages of Ri Bhoi like Umktieh village, Dewlieh village, Sohliya village, Raitong villages and others depend on strawberry farming.
He said that at present, these farmers market their products which are sold at Rs 400 per kilo to various stakeholders in Meghalaya and Assam and it was informed that the demand is very high in the entire NE region, but the same cannot be met due to lack of production. The festival will also feature DJ Emran Mirza from Mumbai who will be accompanied by musical bands from Shillong and Guwahati.