Guwahati, February 28 (MExN): The second day of the ongoing Emerging North East 2020 organised by ASSOCHAM saw session opportunities for investments in food processing and agriculture partnerships among the Government, Industry and Institutions for creating more jobs, more incomes and accelerated growth in the region.
Saurabh Sanyal, Deputy Secretary General, ASSOCHAMin his welcome notesaid “North East region has gigantic scope in tourism. Our vision is to take Northeast tourism to a world class level. For this focus should be given to rural infrastructure among others while at the same time we need collective involvement from all parties including private parties and farmers,” he said.
At the event, Ranjan D Sen, Chairman, Agri Sub Council Eastern Region ASSOCHAM reflected on the variety of resources and opportunities that remain untapped in the region in addition to the already rich resource like tea and oil. Sen stated that many resources are being sourced from outside the region which otherwise can be sourced from within the region through proper documentation which will help in reaching out to the right source. He said that while various support is available to enhance value addition for the farmers and producers, it is necessary to identify the correct source in order to give support to the right person.
Dr. BK Yadav, Head, IIFPT Guwahati spoke on length on the Scope of Food Processing in NER region and the latest technological development available. Dr Yadav emphasised the need for focussing on the production process and highlighted the use of technologies like designer food, mobile processing among others. Manas Deka, Expert from MoFPI headed the discussion on the PMKSY Schemes of MoFPI.
Speaking on the role of logistics in linking farmers to the markets, Amlan Basu, Members National Council of Shipping and Logistics mentioned that the “North East is the most auspicious direction in vastushastra and hence North East Indian states are precious and auspicious to the country.”
Addressing the common saying that logistic is difficult in North East India, Basu presented the various initiatives and development undertaken to improve transportation process from and to North East. Basu pointed out multiple transportation solutions that are available in addition to the chicken’s neck of India i.e. the Siliguri Corridor including the 6 National Waterways under inland water transport (IWT). He said IWT is a great logistic solution as it helps in cost reduction and is also environment friendly.
Chandrima Sinha, VP, Invest India deliberated on investment opportunities in the food processing and the agriculture sector and highlighted various support to be extended by Invest India to budding entrepreneurs. She touched on several technical and financial government interventions to develop North East such as Investment Grid, Startup India and PMSTIAC.
Phool Singh Malviya, Divisional Director, Ministry of Agriculture spoke on the schemes and Development in the North East Region by Ministry of Agriculture. Vinod Vyas, Senior Branch Manager, NSIC deliberated on the initiatives taken by NSIC for promoting the small entrepreneurs and MSMEs. Vinod said that MSMEs in the area still face a lot of challenges such as poor infrastructure, use of orthodox technique, lack of marketing knowledge and skill development etc. He conveyed to the audience that the Ministry of MSME provide various financial and marketing support some of which are procurement of raw materials according to requirements on a discounted price; provision of loan application process support where NSIC coordinate and follow up with the bank until the loan amount disbursement which expedites the process.
Dr. Goutam Das, Assistant Professor, IIFPTdeliberated on the scope of investments in food processing for the budding entrepreneurs. Schemes of the National Medicinal Plant Board (NMPB) for the North East Region was discussed with Dr. BC Nath, Regional Director, National Medicinal Plant Board (NMPB) while Dr. Amit Chaudhary, Dean, School of Business Sciences, USTM, Meghalaya shared his note on Agribusiness Entrepreneurship Development in North East Region.
Over 300 entrepreneurs, MSMEs and FPOs attended the programm.
