DIMAPUR, AUGUST 2: The secretary to the Land Resource department has called upon the department’s officials and field workers to thoroughly ‘assess income generation of beneficiaries solely assisted by the department.’
The secretary, Y Kikheto Sema, was addressing the quarterly meeting of district officers at the Land Resource directorate in Kohima town on Tuesday.
The secretary told the departmental officials to strictly abide by the advice of the Coffee Board of India to use only certified coffee seeds for plantation. He cautioned the officers against allowing farmers to buy coffee seeds from unauthorized nurseries.
Sema also urged the technical officials to come up with ‘properly studied guidelines on value addition crops’ besides coffee, vanilla, black pepper, and betel nut leaves, among others. He opined that the guidelines of all crops should not only be ‘verbal in nature but in printed form and in local dialects too for better understanding of the farmers who may not be well versed with English.’The bureaucrat also emphasized on the need to have nurseries in each district instead of having to import seeds from outside the state of Nagaland and from Dimapur alone ‘which cause high mortality rate during and after transportations.’ He added that such imports involve high cost but result in low returns.
In other matters, Sema said there was a need to encourage the activities taken up by the department as most of its activities were ‘eco-friendly without the need to clear vast areas of jungle.’
“Rubber plantation, coffee farming etc are eco-friendly which will give high commercial return along with value addition,” the official said. Such activities will divert the minds of the slash-and-burn community to seek ‘more eco-friendly sources of livelihood.’
The director of the Land Resources department, Mhathung Yanthan, also spoke during the event. He told the departmental officials to be accurate in collection of data. Accurate data will enable the officials to get a clear perspective of the performance of beneficiaries and of the department as well.
Four district project officers of the department gave presentations. The district project officers of Kohima, Zunheboto, Longleng and Mon district presented power point presentations about their activities in their respective district.
The officers were unanimous that most of the villages in their respective area of intervention had abandoned shifting cultivation and were opting for more ‘resourceful activities’ such as cardamom farming, rubber plantation, and kiwi fruit cultivation, among others.
Said activities are with active intervention from the Watershed Management Team of the department, the offers told the gathering.
