New Delhi, Dec 24 (NationPress) Jyotiraditya Scindia, the Minister for the Development of the North Eastern Region, convened a crucial meeting on Wednesday to formulate a strategy aimed at enhancing the agriculture and horticulture ecosystem in the North Eastern states, thereby increasing farmers’ incomes.

The minister took part in a high-level task force gathering focused on agriculture and horticulture, which was led by Sikkim Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang in the capital. Also present were the Chief Minister of Tripura, Manik Saha, Agriculture Ministers from Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, and Sikkim, alongside senior officials from the ministry.

The task force explored the necessity of addressing significant gaps in the value chain and market linkages throughout the North Eastern Region. Discussions concentrated on fortifying the agri-horti ecosystem by harnessing the region's intrinsic strengths, with specialization, quality, and distinctiveness serving as the key selling points for agri-horti products from the North East Region, as stated in an official release.

Identifying ways to diminish post-harvest losses and reduce marketing and logistics expenses surfaced as vital areas to enhance overall value realization for farmers. The meeting also addressed the need to systematically identify existing obstacles across production, post-harvest, processing, marketing, and logistics segments of the value chain, prioritizing necessary interventions and designing appropriate investment mechanisms.

The significance of establishing a clear roadmap that transitions from foundational interventions to comprehensive value chain integration was also discussed. This includes crafting a strategic infrastructure map to boost export readiness, identifying priority commodities for each state, and fostering cluster-based development for each selected product to ensure scalability, efficiency, and market alignment, according to the statement.

A blueprint-driven approach was suggested, starting with the selection of a single product and covering its end-to-end value chain through well-defined short-term, medium-term, and long-term plans with product-specific targets and investment requirements. This method also emphasized evaluating the number of farmers involved per product across the North Eastern Region and assessing how these farmers would benefit on both a product-wise and state-wise basis. After implementing these interventions, the focus will shift to measuring the resulting increase in farmers’ incomes, as articulated in the statement.

The task force reiterated that a targeted, product-specific, and cluster-oriented strategy would yield measurable and sustainable outcomes, strengthen market connections, mitigate inefficiencies throughout the value chain, and secure long-term income growth for farmers across the North Eastern Region, the statement concluded.