NAMSAI, Dec 8: Over 120 farmers along with members of SHGs and farmers-producers organisations benefitted from an entrepreneurship development programme (EDP) held at the Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) here on Saturday.
Organised by the ICAR’s Thiruvanantha-puram (Kerala) – based Central Tuber Crops Research Institute (CTCRI) in collaboration with the KVK and the state centre of the ICAR’s Research Complex for North Eastern Hills, the programme was aimed at orienting the participants to take up tuber crops-based entrepreneurship.
A ‘tuber crops ethic food festival’ was also organised along with the EDP, where 13 SHGs and progressive farmers from different villages of Namsai district displayed tuber crops cultivated in the district, along with local recipes prepared from tuber crops.
“Tuber crops like cassava, sweet potatoes, yams and taro are traditionally cultivated and consumed in Arunachal Pradesh; however, the value addition and commercialization of tuber crops are yet to take roots,” said Chongkham MLA Chow Tewa Mein, who also attended the programme.
He advocated a collaborative approach involving the CTCRI, the KVK and the agriculture and industries departments to develop small-scale industries for processing tuber crops.
The CTCRI team led by Dr P Sethuraman Sivakumar said the institute can provide technological and handholding support to the farmers and other aspiring entrepreneurs for creating sustainable tuber crops-based businesses.
District Industries Assistant Director BR Dey said “value addition is a key to double the farmers’ income,” and lauded the efforts of the ICAR-CTCRI for initiating value-addition efforts in Arunachal Pradesh.
