Nagaland moves ahead with the Centre of Excellence for Kiwifruit at Pfutsero through New Zealand partnership.
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DIMAPUR — In a significant step towards strengthening Nagaland’s horticulture sector, Minister for Women Resource Development and Horticulture, Salhoutuonuo Kruse, held a meeting with an 11-member delegation from New Zealand and New Delhi to advance plans for the proposed Centre of Excellence (CoE) for Kiwifruit at Pfutsero in Phek district.
The meeting, held on May 31, was attended by Commissioner and Secretary for Horticulture, Akumla Chuba, along with officials from the department, according to an update.
The delegation included six technical experts and scientists from the Bioeconomy Science Institute (BSI), New Zealand—Stephanie Clare Montgomery, Daniel Colin Black, Nicholas Gould, Jeremy Nicholas Burdon, Joy Lorraine Tyson, and Steven Robert Green.
Representatives from the New Zealand Embassy in New Delhi, Melanie and Priyam, as well as Chirac from the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India, and two other officials from New Delhi were also part of the team.
The primary objective of the visit was to establish a weather station at the proposed CoE site in Pfutsero.
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In addition to installing the weather station, the BSI team will conduct preliminary surveys for the Centre of Excellence and interact with kiwifruit farmers across Nagaland to assess existing cultivation practices and explore measures to enhance yield and fruit quality, it stated.
During the meeting, Kruse expressed gratitude to the representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and the New Zealand delegation for their interest and support for the project.
She also proposed the possibility of future exchange programmes that would enable farmers from Nagaland to visit New Zealand for hands-on training and exposure to advanced kiwifruit cultivation techniques.
The proposed Centre of Excellence, being developed in collaboration with New Zealand—a global leader in kiwifruit production—will be the first dedicated kiwifruit centre of its kind in India.
The initiative aligns with the state government’s vision of positioning Nagaland as the “Kiwi State of India” and aims to enhance farmer livelihoods through science-based horticultural practices, the update added.