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Our Correspondent
Bunglon (Churachandpur), May 19 (EMN): For Alex, a 40-year-old cultivator, the production of organic pineapple from his small farmland at his native Bunglon village has improved in the last few years after Manipur Organic Mission Agency (MOMA)’s intervention.
“The size of the pineapple has increased apart from getting marketing facilities after MOMA’s intervention during our seasonal cultivation and harvesting period”, Alex said.
He was responding to a question by journalists from five districts on the sideline of a field trip at Khousabung and Bunglong villages in Churachandpur district on the concluding day of the two-day workshop on role of media in organic farming in the state recently.
The workshop was organised by the Khelen Thokchom Trust (KTT) under the sponsorship of MOMA.
Sharing a similar feeling, a 36-year-old lady cultivator of Bunglon, who owns a pineapple farm measuring three acres of land, expressed the need to have continuous technical support to increase production.
Almost all the Bunglon village households own pineapple farms. The farmers of the neighbouring villages such as Khousabung also shared identical success stories.
Last year, 10 metric tons of organic pineapples produced from Khousabung and Bunglon areas were sold under Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North Eastern Regions initiatives, according to Hatnejim Haokip, Technical Officer of Clover Organic Pvt Ltd Dehradun. Haokip said 500 farmers were engaged for pineapple cultivation under one farmer producers company.
The varieties of pineapple -- Kew (big size) and Queen (small size) -- are produced on a commercial scale in Manipur. But Bunglon and Khousabung village cultivates only Kew variety which has its own distinctive taste and flavour, most suited for canning.
The eight month availability of pineapples in Manipur makes the state highly advantageous for setting up processing and export units.
It may be mentioned that the two-day media workshop on role of media in organic farming in Manipur was kicked off at Lamdan under churachandpur district in the presence of K Debdutta, Project Director of MOMA and Irengbam Arun, Trustee and Advisor of KTT last month.
During the inaugural function of the workshop, Debdutta, reiterating their activities to promote organic farming in the state, informed that the organic products of Manipur is expected to enter Dubai market once the necessary formalities are completed in the next four to five months, while KTT advisor Arun cited the key roles of media in educating the masses on organic missions.