Arunachal Pradesh chief secretary Naresh Kumar on Friday directed the state’s department of agriculture to develop strategies for proper market linkages so as to help the farmers get a fair price of their organic products.
Kumar’s direction came during the state level executive committee meeting on Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North Eastern Region (MOVCD-NER) held at his office here.
The MOVCD-NER is a central sector scheme, a sub-mission under National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA), launched by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare during the 12th plan period.
Besides helping develop certified organic production in a value chain mode to link growers with consumers, the scheme aims to support the development of the entire value chain starting from inputs, seeds, certification and creation of facilities for collection, aggregation, processing, marketing and brand building initiative.
The chief secretary said Arunachal Pradesh has huge potential for organic farming.
“There is a high market demand and value of organic products in the country and rest of the world. However, there is a need to address the gap between the buyer and seller and help farmers get the required organic certification,” he said.
Kumar asked the department to launch a dedicated website for the certified organic products under the Brand Arunachal logo which he said will enable a wider reach.
He also asked the department to set up stalls/ kiosks at Guwahati and Delhi airports, Naharlagun Railway Station etc.
Proper publicity and advertisement of the products is an important aspect. This will help build Brand Arunachal, he said.
Kumar, on the day, also unveiled two books titled, Performance Report of NABARD in Arunachal Pradesh- Annual Report 2019-20, and Study Report on issues of SHGs Bank Linkage Programmes in Arunachal Pradesh.
Among others, agriculture secretary Bidol Tayeng, industries secretary Hage Tari, agriculture director Anong Lego and NABARD general manager G K Nair took part in the meeting.