Kohima, July 20 (MExN): The advocacy and publicity workshop on Minimum Support Price (MSP) for the Minor Forest Produce (MFP) conducted by Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED), Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Government of India and Department of Underdeveloped Areas (DUDA), Government of Nagaland was organised on July 20 at Deck, Hotel Vivor, Kohima.
DIPR in a press release stated that the Minister of Environment Forest & Climate Change, CM Chang in his welcome address appreciated TRIFED along with the Department of EF&CC and DUDA for organising the programme in the State.
Nagaland has been endowed with very rich and unique bio-diversity and falls within the Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspot bordering the species rich Indian and Indo-Chinese sub-region. It is estimated that the state supports approximately 2,431 species belonging to 963 genera and 186 families out of which, the Minister believed that there will be more than half will be important medicinal and of other economic value species. “Nagaland being blessed with rich biodiversity, it is one among the biodiversity hotspots of the country,” he stated.
With the introduction and implementation of the Van Dhan Scheme in Nagaland, the rural farmers will benefit a lot and hoped that the department of DUDA and TRIFED would take up the scheme to the doorsteps of the farmers who have now taken up cultivation of medicinal plants as a source of livelihood and also to supplement their income.
In-situ conservation of the rich genetic resources of the MFPs of the state should be encouraged and ex-situ cultivation of the important medicinal plants species and other minor forest produces should be promoted so that the rich biological resource is conserved at the same time.
Advisor, Department of Underdeveloped Areas, N. Bongkhao Konyak in his speech highlighted about the departmental activities. DUDA being the implementing agency of the State, its main objective of the Department is to implement people centric developmental programmes for Eastern Nagaland region. With this objective, the department is working tirelessly to bridge the gap with regard to economic and livelihood opportunities and bring the backward region at par with the rest of the State. Ever since its inception in 2003, the Department has made enormous strides and successfully created infrastructure and provided livelihood solutions for ensuring sustainable growth in the Eastern region.
There are 337 villages in Eastern Nagaland and with the lack of proper road and basic infrastructure in place it is still an uphill task for the department to successfully impact the region. Moreover with the lack of air and rail connectivity, all raw materials have to be transported from commercial Hubs as far as Dimapur or through Assam. This has resulted in high cost for development, he said.
Lack of job opportunities and proximity to commercial districts, the people of the region cannot effectively initiate self-employment venture other than dependency on government jobs or government funding. So far the Department has successfully implemented all CSS programmes but still far from reaching the target due to limited funding from both the State and the Central Government, he added.
In addition to having Minimum Support price (MSP) for the Minor Forest Produce (MFP) there are needs for storage facilities, organic certifications, value addition, market linkages and for study and documentation of the ethno-botany of the important plant species of the State.
While, MD-TRIFED & Principal Secretary, DUDA, L. Kire expressed his concern about the operational guidelines and requirements of the schemes as geographical area and biological environment varies from state to state.
Therefore, it should be taken into consideration while framing the guidelines and policies of the schemes, he said.
Power point presentation for introduction and presentation on MSP-MFP & Van Shan Schemes was presented by Executive Director, Sangeeta Mahindra while Power point presentation by implementing Agency was presented by Joint Director, DUDA, Dr. Anungla Imdong Phom. Vote of thanks was proposed by RM-TRIFED Guwahati.
