Our Correspondent
Kohima | December 16
The Nagaland Vision Document 2030, which was released recently by the Nagaland State Government, stated that the shortfall in meat, milk and egg production in the state leads to heavy import of these items valued at more than Rs 200 Crores per annum.
The Vision Document stated that there is potential for not only attaining self sufficiency but also surplus production for exports outside the state.
“One of the biggest advantages for developing meat products in Nagaland is that there are no sensitivities to meat...There is therefore large potential for processing and marketing meat even to the SE Asian countries provided there is large amount of surplus production,” it stated, adding that there is also need to establish feed and fodder processing units with credit linkages.
Besides the conventional meat products, there are also other areas of developing unique indigenous breed of animals like Mithun (Bosfrontalis) which can be improved scientifically to augment the ever increasing demand for meat.
ICAR-National Research Centre on Mithun, Jharnapani Medziphema, in Nagaland is the only research organization in the world exclusively working for the continual improvement and conservation of the Mithun. “The state should strive to realize the potential of Mithun as a source of meat, milk, hide and draught power and establish a Mithun demonstration farm as well as for breeding. A bankable scheme needs to be developed in consultation with the farmers and the banking institutions such as NABARD to enable Mithun farmers to access financial assistance,” the Vision Document observed.
