Review Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North Eastern Region

A two-day Stakeholder Workshop Meeting was concluded today here. The meeting was organized to review the progress of Phase-III of the Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North Eastern Region (MOVCDNER), a Centrally Sponsored Scheme which aims to develop end to end organic value chains in North Eastern States.

On 13^th July 2023 progress made under the scheme was reviewed with focus on how to liquidate the committed liability of Phase III and roadmap for implementation of Phase IV of the scheme staring 2023-24. States were requested to suggest the activities and plans which could be taken up associated with availability of funds under MOVCDNER Scheme.

Shri Rakesh Ranjan, Additional Secretary (INM), Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare chaired the meeting on 14^th July 2023, in the presence of Dr. Yogita Rana, JS (INM) and Shri 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 Ministry of Agriculture and FW and MoRD participated in the workshop. The session started with presentation on the recommendations given by the states on Day 1 to scale up the scheme and have a robust implementation system.

Shri Rakesh Ranjan, Additional Secretary (INM), emphasized the importance of service providers to facilitate market linkages and creating brand value of 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, focus on 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 farmer. During this period 379 FPOs/FPCs were formed involving creation of 205 Collection, Aggregation and Grading units, 190 Custom Hiring Centres and 123 Processing unit and Pack houses. 7 Brands have also been developed.

Brief presentation was made by NEDFi on marketing and entrepreneurial support followed by 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 discussion:

1. Per Drop More Crop- Shri Yogesh Roundal, Assistant Director (RFS)- Promote micro irrigations among farers through the FPOs and leverage MGNREGRA for MI projects by developing crop specific estimates.
2. National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM)-Shri Raman Wadhwa, Deputy Director (NRLM)- 2 FPCs to be developed through convergence with NRLM at state level by defining roles and responsibilities of SRLM as IA and CLF as CBBOs
3. Agriculture Infrastructure Fund- Shri 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- Smt. Himanshi, Assistant Director (MGNREGA)- Support for fencing and land development to be explored through MGNREGA.
5. Sub-Mission for Agriculture Mechanization- Shri 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 machine requirement of FPOs and awareness will be generated among them by circulating videos and modules.
6. Integrated Scheme of Agriculture Marketing- Shri 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 ensure training 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 by 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.