Task force for Northeast discusses how to strengthen agri-horti ecosystem in region

New Delhi, Dec 24 (PTI) A High-Level Task Force for the Northeastern states on Wednesday stressed the need for addressing the key gaps in the value chain and market linkages across the region and how to strengthen the agriculture-horticulture ecosystem there.

Union Minister for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), Jyotiraditya Scindia, two chief ministers and three agriculture ministers from the Northeast attended the meeting of the High-Level Task Force (HLTF).

"The HLTF deliberated upon the need for addressing key gaps in the value chain and market linkages across the northeastern region. The discussions focused on strengthening the agri-horti ecosystem by leveraging the region's inherent strengths, with specialisation, quality, and the ability to stand out as the unique selling proposition of agri-horti products from the region," an official release said.

The HLTF reaffirmed that a focused, product-specific, and cluster-driven strategy would enable measurable and sustainable outcomes, strengthen market linkages, reduce inefficiencies across the value chain, and ensure long-term income enhancement for farmers across the Northeast.

The need to systematically diagnose the existing bottlenecks across the production, post-harvest, processing, marketing, and logistics segments of the value chain, while prioritising interventions and designing suitable investment mechanisms, was also discussed.

Reducing post-harvest losses and lowering marketing and logistics costs emerged as the critical focus areas to enhance the overall value realisation for farmers.

The importance of charting a clear roadmap that progresses from foundational interventions to full-scale value chain integration was also deliberated upon at the meeting, the release said.

This includes developing a strategic infrastructure map to support export readiness, recognising priority commodities for each state, and promoting cluster-based development for each identified product to ensure scale, efficiency, and market alignment.

A blueprint-based approach was proposed, beginning with the selection of one product and addressing its end-to-end value chain through clearly defined short-term, medium-term and long-term plans with product-wise targets and investment requirements.

The approach also emphasised assessing, for every product, the number of farmers engaged across the northeastern region, evaluating how farmers would benefit on a product-wise and state-wise basis.

Once these interventions are implemented, the focus would be on measuring the resulting increase in farmers’ incomes, the release said.

Those who attended the meeting included the chief ministers of Sikkim and Tripura, Prem Singh Tamang and Manik Saha, respectively, and agriculture ministers of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim, Atul Bora, Gabriel D Wangsu and Puran Kumar Gurung, respectively. PTI ACB ARI