SHILLONG, FEB 4: Dubbed as the ‘fruit of love’, the red heart-shaped Strawberry will be a major attraction on the eve of the Valentine’s Day celebration in the state with the Valentine Strawberry Festival set to be held in a remote village in Ri Bhoi.
The first of its kind Valentine Strawberry Festival will on January 13 will also help and promote strawberry farmers cultivating this love fruit.
Organized by the Young Minds Association, the festival will display strawberry fruits in as many as 20 stalls which will be put up by the riverside of the Umiam Lake Water Sports complex as they welcome people from across the region, who wish to celebrate the day of love with their dear and loved ones.
“We have decided to celebrate the Valentine’s Day by helping the poor farmers of the region,” YMA president Richard Lyngdoh told reporters at a news conference on Thursday.
He said it is after a survey and inspection the association came to a conclusion to pick up ‘strawberry’ as a fruit that needs to be promoted considering the fact that the farmers cultivating this fruit are facing certain difficulties.
“As the fruit is in the form of the shape of a heart and red in colour and moreover as it symbolize ‘love’, we decided to associate the Valentine’s Day celebration with a meaningful objective and that is to help poor farmers,” he said.
When asked, Lyngdoh pointed out that the major challenge faced by the farmers is related to the supply of the fruit’s seed. According to him, the seed being supplied to them is a hybrid one which is at the moment being imported from America.
“Due to this, the farmers were not able to get original seeds and this has limited the production potential to a great extent despite high demand,” he said while informing that there are around 200 farmers who are presently engage in cultivation of strawberry.
While the farmers could only supply the product within the state and neighbouring state like Assam, he said that only 4 quintal plus of strawberries could be produced per monsoon.
Lyngdoh said that the association is intending to help the farmers by distributing hybrid seeds to the farmers on the occasion.
Stating that the government is also helping the farmers to avail the seeds, he however said the association would further impress upon the government for further assistance to the farmers in term of increasing the production and also marketing the produce as well.
Meanwhile, the other attractions of the festival will include performance by Mumbai-based DJ Imran besides gifts for couples and a host of indigenous food cuisines.-By Our Reporter
+ There are no comments
Add yours