Joint Secretary (INM) Dr. Yogita Rana reviews the progress of Organic Value Chain development of the North Eastern Region
16 July 2023, New Delhi: A two-day Stakeholder Workshop Meeting was concluded in New Delhi to review the progress of Phase III of the Mission Organic Value Chain Development for the North Eastern Region (MOVCDNER). It is a centrally sponsored scheme that aims to develop end-to-end organic value chains in North Eastern States.
The progress made under the scheme was reviewed with a focus on how to liquidate the committed liability of Phase III and the roadmap for implementation of Phase IV of the scheme starting 2023-24. States were requested to suggest the activities and plans which could be taken up associated with the availability of funds under the MOVCDNER Scheme.
Rakesh Ranjan, Additional Secretary (INM), Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare chaired the meeting on 14th July 2023, in the presence of Dr. Yogita Rana, JS (INM) and Angshuman Dey, JS (MDONER). The representatives of the 8 NE States (Mizoram, Manipur, Meghalaya, Assam, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, and Tripura), NEDFi, and officers from the Ministry of Agriculture and FW and MoRD participated in the workshop. The session started with a presentation on the recommendations given by the states on Day 1 to scale up the scheme and have a robust implementation system.
Rakesh Ranjan, Additional Secretary (INM), emphasized the importance of service providers to facilitate market linkages and create brand value for organic products. He also highlighted the focus of the Government in NE and exhorted the 8 states to ensure the complete utilization of funds earmarked for NE states, focusing on the export of organic products to ensure maximum benefit to the farmers of the NE region.
MOVCDNER scheme launched during 2015-16 has helped in bringing 1.73 lakh ha area under organic farming benefiting 1.89 lakh farmers. During this period 379 FPOs/FPCs were formed involving the creation of 205 Collection, Aggregation, and Grading units, 190 Custom Hiring Centres, and 123 Processing units and Pack houses. 7 Brands have also been developed.
A brief presentation was made by NEDFi on marketing and entrepreneurial support followed by a presentation from Officials of various schemes of DA&FW and MoRD to explore convergence opportunities in NER. The following points of convergence were highlighted during the discussion:
1. Per Drop, More Crop – Yogesh Roundal, Assistant Director (RFS)- Promote micro irrigations among farmers through the FPOs and leverage MGNREGRA for MI projects by developing crop-specific estimates.
2. National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) – Raman Wadhwa, Deputy Director (NRLM)- 2 FPCs to be developed through convergence with NRLM at the state level by defining roles and responsibilities of SRLM as IA and CLF as CBBOs
3. Agriculture Infrastructure Fund – K.R. Meena, Director (AIF)- Workshop to be conducted in Guwahati where FPO-wise challenges will be identified, and banks shall be engaged to facilitate credit
4. MGNREGA – Himanshi, Assistant Director (MGNREGA)- Support for fencing and land development to be explored through MGNREGA.
5. Sub-Mission for Agriculture Mechanization – Arvind Meshram, Deputy Commissioner, (SMAM)- Study to be undertaken by Biswanath School of Agriculture to identify suitable machines for NER. States to provide information on the machine requirement of FPOs and awareness will be generated among them by circulating videos and modules.
6. Integrated Scheme of Agriculture Marketing – Kapil Bendre, Director (ISAM)-Conducting training programs for FPOs and onboarding them on the e-Nam portal and helping FPOs to access a combination of AMI and AIF Schemes.
7. Agriculture Technology Management Agency – Dr. Y.R. Meena, Additional Commissioner (Extension) – Engaging ATMA functionaries and experts to ensuretraining and awareness programs for farmers.
There was active participation by the state representatives who presented the progress, success stories, and operational challenges faced by them under the scheme. The session was concluded with closing remarks by Dr. Yogita Rana, Joint Secretary (INM) where she shared her broader vision for the scheme and encouraged states to achieve convergence by leveraging the MOVCDNER scheme as a conduit.
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