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Dimapur, May 9 (EMN): The Covid-19 horticulture special drive team led by commissioner & secretary of Horticulture, Anenla Sato, held a meeting with department officials of Dimapur, at the State Horticulture Nursery, Green Park in Dimapur on Friday.
According to the DIPR's update, the commissioner & secretary in her keynote address, said that the special drive mission was to make the state self-sufficient in horticulture products.
Stating that the Covid-19 pandemic is likely to push additional 130 million people to the brink of starvation by the end of 2020 in addition to the present 135 million people facing hunger globally, she called all the district officials to disseminate the message to grow more, produce more and earn more.
She also asked them to educate the farmers about standard operating procedure to be followed in horticultural fields for vegetables, fruits, flowers, spices and plantation crops in the wake of Covid-19.
Stating that the state is blessed with natural resources and favourable climatic condition for any type of crop, Sato encouraged the officers to put their technical know-how to practise not only in educating the farmers but themselves.
Horticulture Joint Director Jerry Patton, while giving technical input, maintained that the aim of the team is to carry the message of the alarming situation due to Covid-19 pandemic which is affecting crop cultivation and food supply chain.
He said that the database of fruits, vegetables and spices growers is being created to map the growers to know the present strength and to establish network of market linkages for efficient and timely distribution of surplus produce. Terming Covid-19 pandemic a wakeup call, he stressed on self-sufficiency and called to identify varieties of crops suitable in the region so that farmers can be informed accordingly.
Deputy Director Dr. Moa Walling suggested taking up multilayer cropping again which was successfully practised by the forefathers.
He also briefed on merging technical knowledge with the practice of the forefathers which might give good results. Further, he urged the officials to continue giving seeds and saplings as gifts to encourage the people to grow more.
The district officials will be distributing standard operating procedure on horticultural fields and "Grow More! Produce More! Earn More!" leaflets to all the farmers in the district besides collection of database.