The kiwis or cabbages organically grown on the hills of Arunachal Pradesh by women farmers may soon find their place in the lunch and dinner plates of the army men guarding the India-China border.
Arunachal Pradesh government has launched a scheme, named Mission Krishi Veer, which seeks to involve 51,000 women Self-Help-Groups (SHGs) for production and supply of organic fruits and vegetables to the army personnel posted particularly in West Kameng and Tawang districts sharing borders with China.
"We will try to make sure that the fruits and vegetables to be supplied are all organically grown. This will provide proper nutrition to our army personnel and at the same time help the local farmers get market for their products. We will try to fulfill the quality parameters prescribed by the army for the fruits and vegetables to be supplied to them," Panchayati Raj minister, Bamang Felix said after the scheme was launched in Itanagar.
Arunachal Pradesh Agriculture Marketing Board signed a MoU with Tawang Large Area Multi-Purpose Society and Jang Large Area Multipurpose Society for implementation of the project. Arunachal Pradesh State Rural Livelihood Mission would also be a stakeholder.
An official in the state horticulture department said more than one lakh army personnel are deployed in the state at present, particularly in West Kameng and Tawang districts and they require around 23 tons of fruits and vegetables daily. But the army depends on suppliers from neighbouring Assam and some other places. "We are not targeting to cater to the entire demand immediately. We will try to supply a portion of the demand and gradually scale up," he said.
Kiwis grown on the hills of Arunachal Pradesh are considered of superior quality but the growers often struggle to reach the markets outside due to communication bottlenecks. "Target of the Mission Krishi Veer is to create a market locally and thereby help farmers scale up production and income in order to be Atmanirbhar," the official said.
Farmers in Arunachal Pradesh produce an estimated 330 tons of fruits and 390 tonnes of vegetables daily in 5.4 lakh hectares of land.