Guwahati: Assam agriculture minister Atul Bora on Monday said the state has exported wicker works and agrarian products worth around Rs. 4,000 crore in the 2022-23 fiscal despite the absence of adequate export infrastructure.
According to the assessment of the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), exports of wicker works and agrarian products from the state will touch the Rs. 10,000-crore mark by 2026-27.
Addressing the inaugural session of the 10th Indian Horticulture Congress, 2023 organised by the Indian Academy of Horticultural Sciences, New Delhi in association with Assam Agricultural University (AAU), Jorhat at Srimanta Sankardeva International Auditorium, Bora said in the past six years, exports from the state have registered an 85 per cent growth.
Agricultural and allied products from the state worth Rs. 1,799.32 crore were exported to 88 countries during 2021-22.
The major export items from our state were bhut jalakia, pumpkin, jackfruit, litchi, pineapple, ginger, turmeric, joha rice, black rice, red rice, etc.
Bora said: “From time immemorial, the state has been endowed with a rich diversity of flowering species. In orchids alone, Assam is credited with the natural occurrence of 191 splendid species having diversified forms and wide colour ranges. In contrast to the potential and scope of commercialization, the state floriculture, even today, is largely confined to the household garden as a part of the hobby.”
“Although the state floriculture sector has shown some amount of growth under the impact of government schemes viz. HMNEH etc., the net position of the state in the national floriculture map is yet to be visible. The total size of the flower market in Assam is around Rs. 135 crore. However, only Rs. 15 crore flower materials are produced in the state.”
“In this backdrop and considering the potentiality of floriculture in Assam, the Assam government has initiated the ‘Assam Floriculture Mission’ for six years starting from 2022-23 with an outlay of around Rs. 101.23 crore,” Bora also said.
“The state government is also implementing ‘Assam Millet Mission’ and ‘Assam Fodder Mission’ to boost up the economic condition of our farming community since 2022-23,” Bora further said.
“Assam’s Agri-Horticultural sector gives a picture of tradition, diversity, potentiality and a highly demanding sector. The state is rich in bio-diversity, fertile soil and water resources. Assam is organic by default, which is another opportunity for being a world leader in organic farming. If these are to be considered as strengths of our agri-horticultural sector, the major weaknesses are lack of quality seeds and planting materials, natural calamities, processing and value addition, inadequate service delivery mechanism, appropriate need-based and location-specific technologies, etc,” he retorted.
He said the agri-horticulture sector in Assam in a macro sense is characterized by mono-cropping, subsistence level and low input — low output system. Horticulture growth of the state is being undermined by different factors viz., production and marketing challenges, fragmented supply chains, insufficient storage facilities, etc.
”We can overcome these hurdles by capitalizing our hidden strengths by way of maximizing production through input optimization. I hope that, during deliberations in this 10th Indian Horticultural Congress, our esteemed scientists and stakeholders will highlight the pertinent aspects of these issues for the greater interest of the farming community of Assam,” the minister further said.
“The entire northeastern states have 23 GI tagged products and among them, Assam alone has eight GI tagged agricultural products. Among these, Karbi Anglong ginger, Assam kaji lemon, Joha rice, Boka rice, Chokuwa rice, Tezpur litchi and Assam orthodox Tea have tremendous export value,” Bora remarked.
He also said plants are used in Assam for health care and as protective foods. The highly humid subtropical climate with varied topography is suitable for growing different medicinal plants here. It would be one of the most suitable cash crops for the small and marginal farmers of our state.
The minister said to overcome the different issues like cultivation practice, processing, marketing, etc., we are thinking about establishing a Medicinal Plant Development Centre in the Golaghat district and preparation for DPR is ongoing.
“The state government has given more thrust to work towards developing efficient methods for production, processing, value addition and storage of different horticultural products. Considering climate change and other related vagaries, there is a felt need to focus more on appropriate mitigation techniques, effective farm inputs management, protection of biodiversity, and increased resilience in productivity and quality of the produce. These techniques are to be adopted in the entire supply chain — from farm to fork. I suggest all the governmental agencies and other stakeholders join their hands in this effort to make our farming more sustainable and resilient,” he summed up.
The inaugural session was attended by Dr. HS Gupta, chairman, of Assam Agricultural Commission; Dr. Ashish Kr Bhutani, additional chief secretary & APC; Dr. Bidyut Chandan Deka, vice chancellor, of Assam Agricultural University; Dr. KL Chadha, president of Indian Academy of Horticultural Sciences, New Delhi; Dr. Sanjay Kumar Singh and Dr. D.R. Singh, vice presidents, Indian Academy of Horticultural Sciences, New Delhi; Dr. VB Patel, national organizing secretary; Dr. Ananta Saikia, local organizing secretary and Professor, horticulture department, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat were present in the function.