Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma today said that the State has the potential to develop Jackfruit into a Rs 1000 crore industry which would directly benefit 50,000 farmer families.
Informing that the state produces Rs 400 crore worth of jackfruit annually, he said if the fruit is leveraged in the right earnest, it will ensure socio economic development of the people.
Speaking at the Jackfruit Mela 2022 held at Dakopgre in Tura today he said that the since the Garo Hills region, due to its tropical climatic conditions, is conducive for jackfruit plantation farmers should take advantage of the different programmes initiated by the government under the Jackfruit Mission and leverage their business and avail all assistance from the concerned department.
He said that the government had made various interventions for the farmers and the Jackfruit Mission has led to the production of different value-added jackfruit products in the past four years.
It may be mentioned that Mission Jackfruit was launched in 2018 as a five-year programme and is being implemented under the Directorate of Food Processing.
The mela was organised by the District Horticulture office, West Garo Hills in collaboration with the Directorate of Food Processing.
Later in the day the Chief Minister also distributed cheques worth Rs 92, 60,000 to 161 farmer producer groups at Rangsakona in South Garo Hills as part of the focus programme.
