SHILLONG: The plenary session of the national meet on North-East Agriculture-Farmers’ Perspectives was held at the conference hall, ICAR-RC for NEH, Umiam on Saturday and one of the topics discussed was the need to develop muga silk.
The programme was chaired by Prof M Premjit Singh, Vice-Chancellor, Imphal Central Agricultural University (CAU) where K N Kumar, Additional Chief Secretary & Agriculture Production Commissioner was the chief guest besides other dignitaries.
While addressing the plenary session, Kumar said muga silk can be a major area of focus.
He added that mulberry silk can be cultivated in many Northeastern states, including Meghalaya.
He informed that three days ago, Meghalaya concluded its first parliament for farmers. The parliamentary was an opportunity to understand the concerns of the farmers in the state. The Centre also launched the Agricultural Export Policies recently for value added products which can be harnessed by this region, Kumar said. He also highlighted that a recent survey named Meghalaya as the most improved state in the country. In accordance with the 11th Five Year plan, NE grew at a higher rate than the rest of the country due to investment in strawberry, anthuriums and orchids under RKVY and National Horticultural mission.
Massive public-private investment in food processing sectors can also be a game changer, he said, adding piggery can be an important area considering the insatiable demand of pork in China.
He also stressed that credit flow should be available for agriculture to grow at faster rate and expressed dismay that very little coordination is seen between government and ICAR specially for providing strawberry seedlings.
Meanwhile, Y K Rao, GM, NABARD also highlighted the programmes of the institution for the benefits of farming community and informed that the primary responsibility of NABARD is to ensure credit flow to agriculture through nationalised banks especially in the form of Kishan Credit Card. NABARD is promoting the Ffarmer Produce Organisations (FPOs) and it has already promoted 10 FPOs in the state. With the assistance of Central Agriculture University, Meghalaya should also come up with farming system models suitable for this region, he added.
The resource persons in the technical sessions recommended expanding of water harvesting, crop diversification, secondary agriculture, post-harvest values addition, integrated organic farming, supply chain management including quality seeds and value chain management.