According to the Department of Agriculture and Farmer Welfare’s official Twitter handle, 11 MT of fresh organic Kiwi were airlifted from Nagaland’s Chansu FPC, Pfutsero, as part of the Department of Agriculture and Farmer Welfare’s Mission Organic Value Chain Development For North East Region (MOVCD-NER) scheme. Gatik Fruit Company in New Delhi sources the organic kiwi fruits.
Tofler, a leading business intelligence platform for private companies in India, describes Chansu Organic Kiwi Producer Company Limited as an unlisted private company founded on October 13, 2020. It is a private limited company with headquarters in Phek, Nagaland. There are 5 directors on the board of directors. Lhiwekhape Wetsah, Zacusa, Sevohu, Kevezo Hesuh, and Lea Dapulu are the board’s longest-serving directors, having been appointed on October 13, 2020.
The Mission for Organic Value Chain Development for North-East Region (MOVCD-NER), as stated in the Department of Horticulture, Government of Nagaland website, is a Central Sector Scheme, a sub-mission under the National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA), launched by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare for implementation in the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, and Tripura during the 12th plan period.
The scheme aims at development of certified organic production in a value chain mode to link farmers with consumers with comprehensive support for the entire value chain.
The Scheme was launched in Nagaland in 2015-16, with the Department of Agriculture serving as the Nodal Agency. Since 2016-17, the Department of Horticulture has been entrusted with the formation of three Farmer Producers’ Companies/Farmer Producers’ Organizations (FPCs/FPOs) for Pineapple, Large Cardamom, and Ginger.
Keeping in mind the potential of the crops, Dimapur/Peren was chosen for Organic Pineapple covering 800 Ha, Phek for Organic Large Cardamom covering 500 Ha, and Tuensang for Organic Ginger covering 500 Ha, with each district consisting of 500 registered farmers.
According to the SFAC’s guidelines for the formation of FPOs, two Resource Institutes (RIs) were engaged to assist the Department in the formation of FPCs/FPOs, namely Shibah Welfare, an NGO based in Dimapur for Pineapple and Large Cardamom, and Eleutheros Christian Society, an NGO based in Tuensang for Ginger.
During 2017-18, the Nodal Agency, the Agriculture Department, released an amount of Rs. 300 Lakhs to the Department for carrying out various activities under MOVCD-NER.
A study by Reddy, A Amarender (2018) titled ‘Impact Evaluation Study of Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North Eastern Region (MOVCDNER) in India’ found that Nagaland had underutilized the allocated budgets , not even 50% of the released amount in 2015-18. However, he observed that the project had covered more target beneficiaries than actually planned in the entire North-Eastern States.
Meanwhile in August 2022, Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ welfare, Narendra Singh Tomar while answering to an unstarred question in Lok Sabha said that 1.66 lakh hectare areas has been brought under organic farming under MOVCDNER scheme.