NAMSAI, 19 Sep: Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein inaugurated the common facility centre (CFC) of turmeric, aloe vera, moringa and mushroom under the SFURTI (Scheme of Fund for Regeneration of Traditional Industries) cluster here on Sunday.
In his address, the DCM spoke about ease of doing business, and urged the district’s heads to “facilitate and handhold the general public in availing maximum services being rendered by the government.”
Urging the department concerned to “strengthen efforts to add Namsai in the spice map of India,” Mein said, “Namsai should emerge as the highest contributor to the GDP through concerted team effort.”
He informed that “a night market in Namsai is in the pipeline, where tourists can buy
local handicrafts and taste the Tai Khamti cuisine in one place.”
The DCM also emphasised the need to modernise the traditional ways of farming, and stressed on how “modernisation and mechanisation will reduce the input cost and help farmers fetch premium prices for their produce.”
Local MLA Chau Zingnu Namchoom, who, along with Lekang MLA Jummum Ete Deori, Namsai ZPC Nang Urmila Mancheykhun, DC CR Khampa and RIWATCH director Vijay Swami was present on the occasion, said that “collective efforts of all the stakeholders have led to this day, and the conjoined effort is to be continued for sustaining the unit.”
He spoke also about the “initiative involving cooperative societies that the government is planning to undertake to revamp the agri and allied sector.”
Deori said that “marketing was a huge constraint for the farmers of the district, which has now been met with solace after the establishment of the processing unit.”
Khampa encouraged agripreneurship and said that “beyond government jobs there is entrepreneurship in the field of agri and allied sector,” and advised the people to “tap all the readily available resources in the district and utilise them for maximising output for a better livelihood.”
Swami stressed on “the importance of food processing and increased value of produce.”
NOSAPP CEO Chau Athina Chauhai presented a detailed overview of the unit, and said that “the unit will provide cost-effective facilities such as washing, drying, crushing of turmeric, which otherwise is a costly affair for small and marginal farmers.”
The SFURTI is an initiative of the union MSME ministry to promote cluster development. Agra-based PPDC is the nodal agency, while Nisarg Agripreneurship Foundation is the technical agency, and the scheme is being executed by Namsai-based NOSAAP Producer Company Ltd. (DCM’s PR Cell, with input from DIPRO)
