SHILLONG, DEC 20: Thousands of people flocked the Orange Festival, which was inaugurated at Polo ground on Thursday. Organised by the East Khasi Hills District Arts and Culture Society in collaboration with the district horticulture office, East Khasi Hills Shillong, Synjuk Development SHG Nongsteng, Riti Academy of Visual Arts and the Meghalaya Rural Development Society, the festival is aimed at encouraging farmers in the state to take up orange cultivation.
Meghalaya produces 70,000 tons of oranges that constitute 5 per cent of the country’s total output, but in recent years farmers in the state are taking to cultivating other crops because of rampant diseases prevailing in orange orchards. Most oranges, known as Khasi Mandarin, in the state are grown in areas bordering Bangladesh in the Khasi Hills. Inaugurating the festival, additional chief secretary P. B. O. Warjri urged the farmers to explore new ideas and adopt innovative cultivation practice. “The government is taking steps to improve and promote (orange cultivation and marketing) besides addressing the challenges faced by the orange growers in the state,” he said. The re-opening of the border haats b the Centre, he felt, should give a fillip to orange growers in the state.
Speaking on the occasion, East Khasi Hills district deputy commissioner Sanjay Goyal emphasised on the need to diversify into making jams, juice and other off products of oranges. He suggested that the concerned department can even explore the possibility of having thematic cluster for oranges as has been done for epi-culture. The deputy commissioner said the festival was not only about marketing oranges, but it would also provide an opportunity to farmers to interact and find better ways of cultivation.
Raphel Warjiri, an organizer of the festival, said the farmers were concerned that despite the popularity of the Khasi Mandarin variety of orange, there has been a drop in output. More than 80 stalls have been put up in the festival by orange farmers from Khasi and Jaintia hills. The farmers got an opportunity to interact with experts from the Horticulture department at a workshop on pest control and sustainable and systemized orchard management. (By Our Reporter)
+ There are no comments
Add yours