2.  Chairman: Shri SK Mittal, IAS, ACS-Assam  Co Chair: Shri Kansal, IAS, Secretary Horti-Sikkim  Moderator: Shri Shakil Ahammed, IAS, JS-MIDH Officers from States Assam Arunachal Pradesh Mizoram Manipur Nagaland Meghalaya Sikkim Tripura Divisions / Organisations Horticulture Mechanisation INM/IPM NCCD NCOF NCDC NABARD

3.  NER covers 7.9% of country’s total geographical area, 3.8% population but produces only 1.5 % of country’s total food grain.  NER produces 5% of country’s horticulture, however surplus is wasted due lack of physical connectivity with markets.  About 70% of the region is hilly, topography varies within each state making infrastructure development difficult.  Community land holding and small/non-cadastral land holding restricts innovation to traditional agricultural practices.  Terrain limits scope for consolidation for economy of scale and farm mechanisation.  Lack of individual ownerships restricts ease of credit flow to farmers and allied businesses.

4.  The NER offers diverse variety of crop types.  Each state has a spread and overlap of crops:  Arunachal Pradesh: small millet, maize, ginger, kiwi, cardamom  Assam: tea, rapeseed, pineapple, mustard, citrus, sugarcane  Manipur: chillies, rice, ginger, passion fruit, pineapple  Meghalaya: ginger, potatoes, sesame, strawberry, cashew  Mizoram: dragon fruit, anthurium, ginger, maize, sesame  Nagaland: millet, maize, citrus, passion fruit, kiwi, cardamom  Sikkim: ginger, citrus, orchids, cardamom  Tripura: natural rubber, coconut, bananas and pineapple.  NER has a ready market in rest of urban India.  Low adoption of new varieties.

5.  Develop NER for “paramparagat krishi” with branding &market linkage.  Emhasis on Protected Cultivation for fruits, vegetables & flowers with PHM  Need to develop agribusiness concept in NER. Promote private sector investment in Agriculture in the North Eastern Region.  Research & Redesign tools / mechanisation and promote Custom Hiring Centres for open field hill cultivation.(0.5kw/Ha to 2kw/Ha)  Utilise “North Eastern Region Farm Machinery Training and Testing institute” (NERFMTTI) for skilling for farm machines O&M.  Utilise DONER/NEC to streamline fulfilling of minimum requirements for banks to consider credit sanctions.  States must prioritise crops so as to create market linked capacities (clustering, projectising, marketing).

6.  Open field traditional cultivation, mostly organic by default.  Smaller -holding, Lesser yield,  Low farm power availability, poor long term capital formation.  Protected cultivation (PC) is a growing trend in the NER (1300 ha in last year) and replaces jhum cultivation  Facilitates high value crop production including floriculture.  Allows for cross-seasonal production and allows organic practices.  Provides higher yields with improved quality and optimises use of resource.

7.  Target development of protected cultivation units in Jhum areas and in difficult terrain.  Focus PC development in regional clusters to achieve logistical scale.  Concentrate horticulture development to niche crop types so as to build an exclusive NER brand.  Connect clusters of horticulture farms with post-harvest handling centres through rope ways.  Promote & develop more nurseries & TC labs for better planting material for quality produce.  Water harvesting and integrated farming (bee-keeping, mushroom, vermi-compost) be linked with horticulture development.

8.  The NER has surplus of perishable produce - mostly sold in local markets only.  Evacuation of surplus into other markets in the country and neighbouring countries is not developed because of unstructured production.  The region has a community based land ownership structure which restricts bank credit for PHM projects.  The scale of PHM is impacted by other infrastructure (hill roads, railways linkage, etc.)  High Literacy levels & better technology adoption allows for high-tech horticulture and allied activities.

9.  Convert surplus into economy of scale by producing focused crops in clusters to be linked with logistics.  Prioritise to develop multiple evacuation centres, to bring immediate logistics connection with the unified market.  Promote wholesale buyers to register in eNAM in North East by providing them priority support for PHM & market infrastructure.  Provide dedicated retail market outlets in top 5 cities for NER produce eg. Delhi Haats.  formalize and upscale existing trade through Bangladesh& Myanmar  Link to foreign markets through regional sea ports and airports.  APEDA freight subsidy for exports to be extended to spearhead domestic market movement also.

10.  Target niche markets for specialized crops as well as volume business in off season period.  Pack-house at road head as nerve center  Handles output and delivers inputs  Linked to farms with ropeways  SME sized processing unit at each packhouse  Each packhouse to service closest rail head with reefer trucks  DONER/NEDFI to facilitate bank credit and DPR preparations / appraisals.  Projects by entrepreneurs from NER to be exempted from mandatory credit linkage subject to financial closure.  FPOs and farmer groups to be promoted for infrastructure creation and market linkage. Recommended (NER) Build 1500 pack-houses Link 3000 reefer trucks 1-2 container rail terminals Air-freight for perishables Recommended (NER) Build 1500 pack-houses Link 3000 reefer trucks 1-2 container rail terminals Air-freight for perishables

11.  NER has lowest share in Credit vs other geographical areas with Ground Level Credit (GLC) of 0.66% to total in 2015-16.  In comparison GLC in Southern region was 38.5%, Northern was 25.1%, East/West/Centre were at around 12% each.  Crop Loan was Rs 1551 crores, term loans of Rs 4218 crores in 2015-16.  Poor recovery climate discouraging banks, credit flow & timely release of funds Region in country 2014-152015-162016-17 Disb.% ShareDisb.% ShareTarget% Share Northern202478.8823.95220275.3825.10214098.0023.79 North Eastern4452.740.535769.810.668737.000.97 Eastern80013.029.47101633.1011.58112783.0012.53 Central133118.4115.75104245.2811.88170250.0018.92 Western106981.2012.66107943.8312.30118702.0013.19 Southern318283.9837.65337659.6438.48275430.0030.60 Total845328.2100877527.0100900000.0100 Rs Crores NABARD

12.  On same pattern as priority sector lending, banks to allocate separate funds for development of infrastructure in NER like – irrigation, quality planting material, Protected cultivation, CHC, processing and PHM (Gross Capital Formation).  Increase KCC issuance to farmers (only 37% farmers with KCC).  Enhance penetration of banking services for greater outreach.  Collateral against community land holding to be endorsed and/or joint liability facilitated by DONER/NEC.  FPOs/SHGs/FIG/JLG to be promoted for creation of Agri- infrastructure, marketing and freight.  DONER to set up Venture Capital fund to promote integrated projects in the North Eastern Region.

13. Modern Pack-house Railhead Orchards & Poly Houses Farms & Green Houses  Sort, Grade, Package, Precool  Dispatch Centre, local and distant  Order management  Harvest feedback & Control  Extension and Inputs  mini-FPI Unit Ropeways Integrated and market linked approach to cluster based development in NER. Spearheads sustainable agriculture. Road way

14. 14 Focussed production | Economy of scale | Post Harvest Management | Credit Flow | Private Sector Investment

15. End of Deck Rabi Conference 2016 15 बागवानी मिशन Horticulture Mission