The National Cooperative Organics Ltd (NCOL) and Meghalaya’s Natural and Organic Farming Society for Livelihood and Innovation in Agriculture (MEGNOLIA) today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at World Food India 2024 in New Delhi to create a partnership focused on the procurement, marketing and sale of organic products from Meghalaya.
This agreement facilitates MEGNOLIA’s promotion of organic farming and the expansion of the market for local non-perishable organic produce, with NCOL utilising its marketing network to increase product value.
Under the deal, MEGNOLIA will connect certified organic farmers with NCOL and aid in obtaining procurement approvals while also covering the cost of organic farmer certification.
NCOL, in turn, will purchase organic goods from these farmers, handle logistics, and directly compensate farmers and service providers.
During the same programme, Meghalaya Collectives, a brand of the farmers of the state, was also launched.
Commissioner and Secretary in the Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Department, Vijay Kumar D, said that Meghalaya farmers work hard and produce highly quality products in small quantities.
He said that the turmeric of the state has 8-10 percent curcumin content, which is the highest in the world, and the pineapples and oranges are among the sweetest, while the pepper and bay leaves are of high quality.
“But the challenge was how to get these products to markets that can pay well, like in metro cities and internationally,” Kumar said.
According to him, in the last four to five years, the state government has taken initiatives to connect Meghalaya farmers to these types of markets.
He said that the state government has partnered with organisations like APEDA, which is helping in export, and the MoU with NCOL will help the organic farmers to market their produce.
He also said that in the last four to five years, the state government has been giving a good amount of working capital grants, subsidies and capital support to set up processing units and also to procure machinery.
Kumar also informed that in the state there are 10 functional hubs, with investment ranging from Rs 3 crore to Rs 10 crore and there are 200 to 300 spokes, which are smaller units with investment ranging from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 20 lakh.
