As many as 69 village clusters have been identified to implement the Ginger Mission in Meghalaya.
The Ginger Mission worth Rs 10 crore in the financial year 2022-23, was recently announced by the government.
The Meghalaya Basin Management Agency (MBMA) and the Directorate of Horticulture will collectively monitor the implementation of mission, a government statement here said today.
“In the first phase i.e year 2022-23, the target to be covered under the mission is 216 MT comprising of local variety ginger 70 per cent and Mahima, Varada variety 30 per cent. It was learnt that the farmers prefer to plant local variety since the local variety is acclimatised to the vegetation,” the PR said.
The Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA) would be on boarded wherein their resources would be trained and deployed per ginger cluster for necessary land-holding to the cooperatives and farmers with respect to planting material distribution, quality testing, plant protection measures and other support.
The modalities of their role would be conveyed through trainings, along with training on the Package of Practices (PoPs) so as to ensure that the ATMA representative trains the farmer and a high yielding seed bank of ginger born out of the best PoP is available with the State.
Meanwhile, the office of the District Horticulture Officer in the district also organised a programme on Ginger Mission today at SGSY Hall, Resubelpara for the farmers, cooperative groups, and other beneficiaries of agri related activities.
Kharkutta MLA Rupert Momin who attended the programme distributed high yield variety (HYV) planting materials for ginger production to prospective farmers.
Momin highlighted on the importance of agri-horti activities and said since majority of the population residing in rural areas depends on agri allied activities for their livelihood, the Ginger Mission will increase yield and productivity thereby enhancing the wellbeing of the farmers.
North Garo Hills District Horticulture Officer, BG Momin apprised the gathering of the history of ginger cultivation in the region and said that owing to suitable climatic condition of the region ginger has been cultivated for a long period of time with large scale productivity. But in order to meet rising demand of ginger and to improve the livelihood of the farmers, various interventions is needed to increase its yields, he added.
