Guwahati: Sikkim Chief Minister P S Golay has sought collaboration and investment from G20 nations in organic sector as he outlined the government’s plan to make Sikkim a green agro-ecological destination.

Addressing the inaugural session of G20 business meeting (B20) at Chintan Bhawan in Gangtok, Golay informed the delegates of 26 nations about Sikkim as the world’s first organic state duly recognised by the global institutions.
The B20 engagement was on opportunities for multilateral business partnerships in tourism, hospitality, pharmaceuticals and organic farming.

Golay said that Sikkim is in dire need of green technology that would enhance the productivity and yield in the limited farmlands as there are mostly marginal farmers in the state.

He confirmed the readiness of the state to explore the possibility of entering fair trade principles to value chains arrangement so that the farmers get remunerative prices right at the farm gates in the rural vicinities of Sikkim.
The third collaboration sought was on value additions and processing facilities within Sikkim on niche organic products of the State.

Fourthly, the state is seeking to build capacities among the new generation farmers and train them on newer methods of organic farming. We have varieties of organic seeds and plants which are mostly indigenous to Sikkim yet we witness gradual erosion in seed varieties and their genetic pools. This means we need a range of inter-disciplinary institutions that deal with training, research and experimentations, productivity enhancement, processing, marketing and making other sectors move to organic culture.

On tourism sector, Golay shared that tourism is the mainstay in Sikkim with arrival of 1.5 million tourists annually. This is adding that the State government plans to move a major segment to high value tourism.

They want to integrate tourism with our plans of making Sikkim an education hub, health destination and as geography of politico-cultural history, trade and pilgrimage routes and biodiversity hotspot, he said.

He appealed the G20 delegates to effectively participate in ‘organic tourism’ and high-value tourism ventures.
The chief minister also mentioned that the Sikkim government wants to consolidate the State’s position as a pharma hub with over 55 pharma units already operating here.

Another area where Sikkim finds huge scope for investment is on climate change-related activities that include green energy, small and mini hydro projects, zero carbon ventures, Information Technology (IT) and IT-enabled services.

ALSO READ: Assam 2023-24 budget will help state GDP to grow to Rs 5.5 lakh crore: ICC