Cardamom Awards: Ajumlu Bellai receives 1st prize

Itanagar, Nov 13: The presentation ceremony of Large Cardamom Productivity Awards & Regional Seminar on Spices organized by the Spices Board here at  DK Convention Centre today turned out to be memorable for Arunachal Pradesh as Ajumlu Bellai, a progressive woman farmer from Tarafliang village of Anjaw district bagged the first prize for 2018-19 for attaining high productivity of large cardamom from among all the large cardamom producing states in the country.
Giving away the award which consists of a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh along with a citation & a certificate instituted by the Spices Board, State Minister for Agriculture, Horticulture, Animal Husbandry etc Tage Taki remarked that Arunachal is heading towards becoming the largest producer of large cardamom in the country from the current second spot. He added that efforts should be intensified to make it the highest producer in coming years and attain capacity to meet the entire domestic and international consumer demands, while congratulating the state’s farming community, Spices Board and Horticulture Department.
 Ajumlu shared how large cardamom cultivation helped her in empowerment and appreciated the technical support provided by Spices Board and KVK Anjaw for getting higher yield in production. Her succinct yet bold speech about the experience got huge applause from the gathering. 
The Minister also highlighted the issue of Mithun damage to cardamom plantations and appealed Spices Board to implement schemes for protection of large cardamom plantations by providing farmers with adequate fencing. Government agencies have to promote FPOs (Farmer Producer Organizations) so that economic activities of the farming community increase without involvement of middlemen to help them in harnessing more profit, Taki said while further requesting the central government to take efforts in controlling the fluctuation in prices of large cardamom to ensure stable prices to growers. The Minister congratulated all the award winners for 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19, particularly the women growers who have taken leadership in large cardamom cultivation. He also handed over the UKB Dryer, developed by Padmashree Dr. Uddhab Kumar Bharali fully funded by Spices Board to the office bearers of Subansiri Spice & Agro Producer Company Ltd, Ziro, a Spice Farmer Producer Company (SFPC) promoted by Spices Board for enabling small and marginal growers to adopt scientific curing of large cardamom thereby fetching better prices. 
‘Arunoday’, a promotional film conceived and developed by Spices Board showcasing the role of large cardamom cultivation in transformation of socio-economic development  of rural farmers and women empowerment in Arunachal Pradesh was released on the occasion by the Minister. Director (Finance), Spices Board, Shainamol while urging GoAP to send proposals for inclusion of Spices Cluster in Arunachal Pradesh under Agri Export Policy of GoI, also spoke about the necessity to continue collaboration between Spices Board and State’s Department of Horticulture & other line departments for development and export promotion of spices from the state. Secretary (Agriculture & Horticulture), GoAP Bidol Tayeng said that state government is supporting the growers  for enhanced production of large cardamom which is acting as an encouragement for them to switch over from illegal cultivation of opium and resulting in overall socio-economic development.
During the technical period on Research & Development and post-harvest & Entrepreneurship Development on Spices in NE region, Director (R&D), Spices Board, Dr A B Rema Shree and Joint Director of Horticulture Department Tage Tatung chaired sessions. Scientist, Spices Board Dr T N Deka, Om Prakash Arya from GB Pant National Institute of Himalayan and Environment & Sustainable Development, Scientist, NEIST Dr Natarajan Velmurugan, AGM, APEDA Sunita Rai, Assistant Director, MSME Abhishek Singh and Manager, NABARD B N Singh also delivered lectures during the seminar. Spices Board PR

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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