Guwahati: Meghalaya would become the third-largest producer of ginger in the country in three years' time.

Meghalaya chief minister Conrad K. Sangma recently said this at the launch of “Ginger Mission” in presence of Agriculture Minister Banteidor Lyngdoh at Integrated Agriculture Training Centre, Shillong.

He said Rs 121 crore has been earmarked for the mission for a period of three years and by the end of the mission, the Government is confident that Meghalaya would become the third-largest producer of ginger in the country.

India is one of the leading producers of ginger in the world. Madhya Pradesh is the biggest producer of ginger in the country followed by Karnataka and Assam.

The objective of Ginger Mission was to improve the overall earnings of the farmers in the State. He admitted that in the past several programmes for farmers' welfare were introduced, however, the objective to enhance farmers' earnings was not achieved. “Through Ginger Mission and other flagship farmers' programmes, the Government has designed a dedicated road map to ensure that farmers' incomes were doubled,” he asserted.

"As Government, we have realized that 70 percent of the population in the State are into farming and it is incumbent on us that we introduce initiatives that directly and indirectly enable our farmers to reap its benefit," Sangma said.

He said the mission aims to double the ginger production in the State to at least 1.5 lakh MT per annum in the next three years from its current production of about 60,000 MT per annum.

Through the mission, the Department of Agriculture and Farmer’s Welfare will introduce improved and high-yielding varieties of ginger like – IISR Mahima, IISR Varada, and Nadia (which are currently being grown widely in the State).

Through the mission, about 50,000 farmers will be benefited and the area of production will be increased from 10,000 hectares to 12,500 hectares. Apart from introducing high-yielding and improved varieties of ginger, the mission imparts training to farmers on the Package of Practices (POP) and the latest production technology, collectivization and aggregation, processing of ginger, and market linkage.

He further informed that through Ginger Mission, the Government will create logistic hubs and storage spaces and as well as connect the farmers to bigger markets and buyers.

“Government will ensure that all verticals related to the introduction of improved seed varieties, training, production, and marketing linkage are taken care of to ensure maximum output,” he added.

He also said that the indigenous variety “Sying Makhir” which is highly medicinal will also be promoted through this programme. “Our local variety of ginger Ing Makhir has medicinal properties and through this mission, we will ensure its development and promotion.

It may be noted that the Government would be spending about Rs 18 Crores in the first year to procure 2,200 metric tonnes of quality planting materials which will be distributed freely to about 9000 farmers this year covering about 400 Villages. About Rs 6 Crores on Package of Practices, Training to farmers, etc. 30 new processing units will be set up across the state at an estimated amount of Rs 7.5 Crores. About Rs 1 crore will be spent on Marketing for ginger, creating packaging units to enable selling it to the final consumers, etc.