GUWAHATI: Arunachal Pradesh’s Lower Subansiri district has become the first in the country to obtain the Organic Certification for Kiwi under Mission Organic Value Chain Development Programme for North East Region (MOVCDP-NER).
For years, in Arunachal Pradesh’s Ziro Valley, the kiwi would grow wild. It was some 20 years back when the State’s Horticulture Department introduced a domesticated variety of the fruit.
The kiwifruit of the state has already attained commercial identity not only in the local markets but also in the national as well as international markets. The prime advantage of kiwifruit, which is full of nutritious particles, that it comes in the market from October to December when not many fruits are available.
Besides, the fruit is harvested hard and can be transplanted to long distances without using the sophisticated packing material. Around 6,000 metric tonnes of kiwi is imported into India annually.
Realizing the potential of organic farming in the North Eastern Region of the country Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer Welfare has launched a Central Sector Scheme entitled “Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North Eastern Region” for implementation in the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura, during the 12th plan period.
The scheme aims at the development of certified organic production in a value chain mode to link growers with consumers and to support the development of the entire value chain starting from inputs, seeds, certification, to the creation of facilities for collection, aggregation, processing marketing and brand building initiative.
