Nagaland farmers told to aggressively promote Geographical Indication-tagged crops

KOHIMA— Director of Horticulture, Meyasashi, on Wednesday underscored the need to aggressively promote and boost the productivity Geographical Indication (GI)-tagged crops from Nagaland, namely naga tree tomato, naga cucumber and naga mircha (king chilli).

Speaking during the GI awareness seminar-cum-exhibition organised by North Eastern Regional Agricultural Marketing Corporation Limited (NERAMAC) under the ministry of DoNER, at Hotel Japfu in Kohima, the official assured support to farmers for GI tagging of more products.

As many as 250 farmers were given user authorisation to use GI for two products — Naga tree tomato and Naga cucumber – at the event.

James Chawang, Deputy Director of Agriculture, appealed to the NERAMAC to collaborate with the department on processing and marketing of crops, saying that the state has 38 farmer producer companies covering 23, 000 Ha with 13,000 organic certified crops and 10,000 under conversion.

Informing that GI tagging of products such as perilla, kholar, millets and flint corn is under process, he urged the farmers to increase production of GI-tagged products to meet the demands.

INR 13.5 lakh to RBAN

Tiakala Ao, General Manager of NABARD, said the bank is helping producers to register GI and market their products as part of its mission to improve the livelihoods of rural people and boost the rural economy.

She informed that the bank has sanctioned INR 13, 50,000 to Rongmei Baptist Association Nagaland for GI registration of five products (shawls).

Pointing out that NABARD is among the few organizations in India to have a specific GI Policy while the policy was launched in 2019-20, and it aims to promote GIs as a tool for rural development and it provides financial assistance to producers’ groups, SHG or Farmer Club Federation, Marketing Federation, Producer Organisations (PO, OFPO) Cooperatives (including PACS) for GI registration and post-registration activities which includes help with market linkages, branding, and promotion.

She said that NABARD has sanctioned 204 projects to various NGOs across the country till date for undertaking registration for both farm and off-farm products that include agricultural products, food products, handicrafts, and textiles.

She opined that in Nagaland, the GI tag can be a valuable tool for promoting traditional products and protecting local livelihoods, which in turn can help boost demand for these products, both within India and abroad.

“The GI tag is also a way of preserving Nagaland’s unique cultural heritage. These products are a part of Nagaland’s identity and the GI tag helps to ensure that they are passed down to future generations,” said the manager,

She added that GI tag also helps protect the reputation of traditional Naga products as well as ensure that consumers get genuine products.

Commadore Rajiv Ashok (Retd), Managing Director of NERAMAC, in his speech said that GI preserves the right of a region to claim to be the originator of a particular produce or item.

NERAMAC, over the years has supported the certification of 13 such agri-horti products of the eight states of the North East Region. It is a significant step towards promoting and protecting traditional agricultural practices and products.

“To take this initiative to the next logical level, it is indeed a very proud moment for team NERAMAC to be embarking on a journey to initiate the process to user authorise these certifications,” he said, adding that NERAMAC started this initiative about a month and a half ago when it processed 800 such user authorisation forms from all states of the NER and forwarded them to the GI at Chennai to approve usage.

He also highlighted how the authorisation process of farmers would enhance the competitiveness of the produce in domestic and international markets and create opportunities for increased income and livelihood.