by Agriculture Production Commissioner, Y Kikheto Sema, IAS on November 14 inspected the ongoing work progress of the Organic Air Conditioned Market at NER Agri Expo Site, 4th mile, Dimapur.
The AC market has a capacity to store 1.5 MT of fruits and vegetables. Attached with the market is a cold storage with storage capacity of 5MT.
Additionally, adjacent to the organic market, there is another facility to store dried products with 5MT storage capacity.
Interacting with officials at the site, Kikheto expressed happiness with the progress of the work and was hopeful that the market would be inaugurated before this Christmas.
“Every time, we talk about organic and our own products but there was no proper outlet to facilitate the buying and selling of organic produces. Perhaps for first time we are soon going to have organic AC market to function throughout the season,” he said and appreciated Minister for Agriculture, Kaito Aye for taking interest in the project.
Kikheto was also hopeful that some employment opportunities could be generated through the facilities at Agri Expo. Stating that some of the traders were not too fair with local farmers when it comes to paying the correct price, he encouraged the CEO Nagaland State Marketing Board, Ikuto Zhimomi to work out having some corpus fund so that they can invest and buy from the farmers and give them better price than others and then to channelize the market outside.
He said there were some local produces like Kiwi, Pineapple, Ginger etc which could create huge market. He also expressed hope that GoI’s new policy to grant 50% concession for air cargo to NE states would give a boost to the local produces and its marketing.
He said that the Organic AC Market was like a small Christmas gift to farmers and people who like organic fruits and vegetables.
The APC indicated that the government was mulling to bring all agri and allied offices to Agri Expo Site for the convenience of the farming community and also to have better coordination.
“We are going to use the huge space at Agri Expo meaningfully for the benefit of all sections of the people. We are planning to have farmers’ hostel, daily market etc at Agri Expo and it is our target to flood Dimapur with our own fruits and vegetables. For this we need to strive to be Indian, buy Indian, be Naga and buy Naga products,” he added.
The APC was accompanied by CEO Nagaland State Marketing Board, Ikuto Zhimomi; SE (Agri), Er Achakbou Newmai; Additional Director, Soil & Water Conservation, Khekiho Shohe and other officials.
- The Morung Express