Morung Express News
Dimapur | July 27
Farmers of Longwa bordering Myanmar and Nagaland on the Indian side were on Wednesday sensitized on the technicalities of growing coffee and cardamom by a team of technical experts who were part of a team led by Secretary, Land Resources Department (LRD), Y. Kikheto Sema, IAS and Director, Hoto Yeptho.
The Department had earlier distributed cardamom seedlings to the villagers under PMKSY erstwhile Integrated Watershed Development Project.
During an interaction with the visiting officers at the residence of Tonyie Pawang, Chief Angh at Longwa, Chairman of Longwa Village Council, Longkong admitted that the villagers initially did not take seriously about cardamom cultivation but added that they have now realized the benefits of such farming. He said more than 50% of the villagers were now involved in cardamom farming.
Officers who visited cardamom and coffee nursery there pointed out that the farmers were not following the specifications as taught owing to which the crops were not yielding to its optimum.
LRD Secretary, Kikheto appealed the farmers to properly follow the technicalities for their own benefit. Since the villagers have shown interest in coffee farming, he asked the technical officers to study its viability and assured the villagers of providing coffee seedlings after taking up the issue with the Department.
He told them not to worry about coffee marketing since the LRD has already signed an MoU to be sold at international rate.
Noting that the usage of opium was affecting the health and wellbeing of the consumers, Kikheto said he respected their way of life but advised the villagers to give up any product that was detrimental to their health and activities. He urged the Chief Angh to look into such issues for the well being of the inhabitants.
Kikheto also urged the Longwa villagers to take advantage of their village being identified under the Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana ( SAGY) by Lok Sabha MP, Neiphiu Rio.
The LRD team also visited schools on Myanmar side and Longwa as well and noted that the school on the other side were running well with dedicated teachers while there was almost no activity at the school in Nagaland side.
The LRD officers were accompanied by SP Mon, Yanba Konyak.
