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| Photo: Mission Lakadong being unveiled by the Governor of Meghalaya |
The Governor of Meghalaya,
Shri Ganga Prasad today launched a five year Mission Lakadong 2018-2023, a
convergent Mission of the Directorate of Horticulture, Department of
Agriculture with the Governor’s Secretariat, Community & Rural Development Department,
Forest Department, North Eastern
Hill University and Meghalaya Institute of Entrepreneurship at a function held
at State Convention Centre, Shillong. The programme was organized by the
Directorate of Horticulture.
The inaugural function was
also attended by Shri Nujorki Sungoh, MLA, Mowkaiaw Constituency, Shri K.N.
Kumar, Additional Chief Secretary to the Governor of Meghalaya, Shri P. Sampath
Kumar, Commissioner and Secretary, Agriculture Department, Smti M. N. Nampui,
Secretary, Agriculture Department, Smti B.N. War, Director of Horticulture, Dr.
S. Rama Rao, Professor and Head, Biotechnology, NEHU, Shri A. Madhukar,
Chairman, Afro-Asian Development Consortium, entrepreneurs and turmeric farmers
of Jaintia Hills.
Speaking on the occasion as
Chief Guest, the Governor said Meghalaya climatic condition is conducive for
growing a variety of spices, the prominent ones are turmeric, ginger, chilli,
black pepper and bay-leaf. Jaintia Hills District is home to one of the finest
turmeric varieties in the world and the most famous one being the Lakadong
turmeric with a curcumin content of more than 7% is highly sought after by the
market, added the Governor. He further added that Lakadong turmeric is a rare
type of turmeric and has the potential to change the lives of countless farmers
if its uniqueness is properly exploited and there is an established demand for
the variety and buyers who are willing to pay a premium for its quality.
“I am aware that this chemical
free turmeric is much sought after for use in the cosmetic, pharmaceutical and
food industry. However, despite such good demand, farmers have not, till date,
been able to realise the full economic potential of this crop because most of
them are small and marginal, and due to non availability of planting material
and low volumes. The negative influence of the middle men is another major
factor. I understand that there are at least 1000 farmers engaged in the
cultivation of Lakadong Turmeric in Laskein and Thadlaskein Blocks, and the
area is about 2500 hectares. I have also ascertained that the total production
is just about 10,000 M.T. per year. This kind of volume is not sufficient to
create a global foot print for our Lakadong. So, there is a necessity to
undertake a mission mode intervention to increase the production of Lakadong
Tumeric to at least 50,000 M.T. per year and more than double the area” he
added.
The Mission Lakadong was
launched to lend exclusive focus on one of Meghalaya’s most well known spices,
the Lakadong turmeric, also known as the golden spice and to put in place
targeted interventions aimed at the improvement of livelihoods of turmeric
farmers by leveraging upon its default organic status and its high curumin content, which at more
than 7% is the highest in the world, to capture and meet the demand for this
valuable spice from markets and industries especially the pharmaceutical
industry.
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| Photo 2: A lady Entrepreneur Smt.Isabella Pakma making slices |
The Mission will adopt an end
to end holistic approach to organic Lakadong cultivation and will put in place
interventions to increase that area under from its current status of 6367 acres
(2577 hectares) to 15,000 acres (6070 hectares) over the next five years while
improving the productivity from 6 MT per hectare to 8 MT per hectare,
introduction of the latest technologies of plant propagation to increase and improve the
availability of planting material, post harvest technology induction including
solar dehydrators, product aggregation, the creation of a dedicated Hub and
Center for Excellence for Lakadong, mobilization of farmers into Farmer
Interest Groups, training, capacity building, creation of an ecosystem for
promotion of turmeric based agri-businesses and a dedicated supply chain linked
to markets for turmeric.
The main objective of the
Mission is to enhance the livelihood and income opportunities of Lakadong
turmeric farmers by leveraging on the uniqueness of Lakadong to tap the current
and emerging opportunities in the spice sector. This will call for setting a
target of 50,000 MTs of Lakadong in a period of five years.
Building up the brand equity
of Lakadong as a uniquely Meghalayan premium product, both online and offline,
that is synonymous with quality and purity. This will call for investment to
register the Geographical Indication for Meghalaya’s Lakadong.
Induction of the latest
technology and management practices for enhancing the availability of quality
planting material. This will call for establishing Tissue culture Labs in key
locations of the state and using the available resources of NEHU, Forest and
Agriculture Departments and creation of an ecosystem that catalyses the
emergence and growth of local private enterprises in the value chain. This will
call for sustained capacity building of the potential entrepreneurs and
establishing market linkage by the Meghalaya Institute of Entrepreneurship.
Others who spoke on the
occasion were Shri Nujorki Sungoh, MLA, Shri K.N. Kumar, Additional Chief
Secretary, Shri P. Sampath Kumar, Commissioner and Secretary, Agriculture
Department, Smti M. N. Nampui, Secretary Agriculture Department, Smti B.N. War,
Director of Horticulture, Dr. S. Rama Rao, Professor and Head, Biotechnology,
NEHU and Shri A. Madhukar, Chairman, Afro-Asian Development Consortium.
Later, Technical Session was
held on the topics, namely; Brief about the Mission, Market Access-Future
Ready, Inducting Technologies, Rapid Multiplication of Lakadong through Tissue
Culture, Bio-Diversity, the Protection of Plant Variety and Farmer’s Right Act
2001, Organic Cultivation of Turmeric and Presentation on 1917iTEAMS.
(Source: Official Press Release by the DIPR, Government of Meghalaya)
