NERAMAC procures over 140 MT of produce from Northeast

DIMAPUR — More than 140 MT of produce, including pineapple, avocado, black rice, cashew nuts, large cardamom, cinnamon and black pepper, were procured from the Northeast region by North Eastern Regional Agricultural Marketing Corporation Ltd. (NERAMAC) in 2023 under the brand “NE Fresh”.

The Ministry of Development of the North East Region (DoNER) updated this on Wednesday.

NERAMAC is a public sector undertaking under DoNER that assists farmers in the region in obtaining remunerative prices for their produce while also improving the region’s agricultural, procurement, processing, and marketing infrastructure.

Also during the year, the ministry noted that the Bamboo Based Craft Concentration Centre at Nagaland’s Sovima village, which was funded by the North Eastern Council (NEC), Ministry of DoNER, at a project cost of INR 448.46 lakh, was completed with a vision to focus on traditional and modern Nagaland handloom and handicrafts for domestic and international markets.

It stated that NERAMAC has a product basket of more than 130 products in the retail segment, as well as around 30 local entrepreneurs and MSMEs associated with branding and marketing their processed products.

Retail products are marketed through 12 NERAMAC stalls and retail outlets spread across seven cities, including two OSOP (One Station One Product) stalls at Kamakhaya and Dimapur railway stations, it informed.

During 2023, the user authorisation registration of 1,308 farmers in the Northeast region was also facilitated for all 13 geographical indication (GI) registered agri-horti products.

It stated that, under the scheme “Formation and Promotion of 10,000 Farmer Produce Organisations (FPOs)” of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, 205 FPOs have been formed across the Northeast region, covering 15,500 farmers.