KOCHI | Apr 20 | Carrying forward his mission to promote agro-based industries in the state, Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein on Friday urged the Spice Board of India to expedite setting up of two auction centers for spices at Namsai and Kimin.
Mein who visited the head office of Spice Board of India and the Synthite, world leading manufacturer of value added spices here, lamented that despite the land were made available and allocation of fund of Rs 1 crore each for the setting up of auction centers in the last financial year, the state horticulture department and Spice Board could not make any progress in this regard.
During interaction with the directors, Siddaramappa S (director finance), Dr A B Remashree, (director R & D) and officials of the Board, the deputy chief minister informed that the fund has been kept in this year’s budget too and called upon the officials to coordinate with the horticulture department and set up the centers at the earliest, a report from the PRO said.
“There is huge scope for cultivation of spice crops in Arunachal Pradesh and the state is one of the potential producers of large cardamom besides ginger, turmeric, pepper and chillies,” he said and added that even the wild cinnamons grown in the state are found to be more pungent than the cultivated one in the plain areas.
“These potentials cannot be converted into revenue generating resources unless we activate and accelerate ourselves,” Mein said and called upon the officers of horticulture department to work little harder for economic upliftment of the farmers.
The DCM further said that to ensure that the spice culture is promoted in a larger way in the state; all the welfare measures and schemes need to be percolated down to the farmers.
He said to ensure that all the focused areas and the way forward activities put forth by the Spice Board for the improvement of spice cultivation are taken care of by the department.
Mein was happy to learn that the Spices Farmer Producer Companies (SFPC) at Namsai for Ginger has been successfully registered on April 17 last, which is the first registered SFPC in the State and thanked the Board for their initiative. He was also informed that the registration of second SFPC for large cardamom at Ziro is under process.
However, the Board sought the support of the state government for persuasion of the project for establishment of SFPCs in the North East Region, the proposal of which had been submitted to the NEC for necessary funding, to which he assured to look into.
The officials of the Board also made a power point presentation highlighting their activities in the state and North East region.
It was also informed that the state has the second highest numbers of field offices (9 offices in 9 districts) after Kerala in the country. The DCM also visited the laboratories of the Board.
While interacting with Aju Jacob, Chief Executive Officer of the Synthite and his team, Mein invited the manufacturer for starting contract farming in the state too as they are doing in Kerala and Sikkim for organic turmeric.
He said that by way of contract farming, the company could help the farmers of the state by providing quality sapling, technical know-how and the assurance of buying back which in turn would help to improve their economy.
He also informed them about the agriculture potentials and scope of spice crops in the state which could become a major supplier of raw materials for the manufacturer.
Mein also invited the officials of Spice Board and CEO of the Synthite to the Agriculture Conclave at Itanagar proposed on May 18 to 19 and to put forward their suggestions and help in drawing a road map for resurgence of agriculture in the state.
He also visited the spice processing, oil and CO2 extraction units, the report added.
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