Mizoram government, through the district agriculture marketing committees (DAMCs), has been gearing up to commence purchase of ginger produced by the farmers from February 2, officials of the state agriculture & farmers’ welfare department said. The officials said the state government will contribute Rs 50 per kilo for purchase of ginger as maximum support price (MSP). The decision to commence purchase of ginger from February 2 was made at a meeting of the Mizoram Agricultural Marketing Board chaired by state chief minister Lalduhoma on December 1 last. They said arrangements have been made to ensure smooth payment of MSP to the farmers at 65 secondary collection centres (SCCs) from where ginger produced by members of the Sawhthing (ginger) cooperative societies will be purchased. “Buffer stock will not be allowed from this year and only ginger brought by members of the Sawhthing societies will be purchased,” they said.
Farmers were urged not to sell ginger independently but to make proper use of collection centres, so that procurement can be carried out systematically. Various locally produced machines for slicing and drying ginger are proposed to be placed at collection centres for use by farmers, which are expected to support ginger processing. The chief minister has inaugurated the Ginger Processing Unit established at the Sairang Horticulture Centre under the Handholding Scheme of the MAMB on January 13.
During last year, over 3.38 lakh kilos of ginger had been purchased through the SCCs by the state government incurring an expenditure of over Rs. 137.72 crore, the officials added. NITI Aayog, which organised Stakeholders Consultation for Mizoram Ginger Produce at Delhi on November 24 declared Mizoram as the “Ginger Capital of India”.
