Banana cultivators in Assam can now heave a sigh of relief: The National Horticulture Technology Mission has promised them forward linkages with multinational companies to lift their produce for the fast-growing food processing industry.‘‘It is a fact that farmers rarely get good prices for their produce because of the presence of middle-men in the market. The government is now trying to create direct linkages between the farmers and private players like ITC, Florence Flora and the Kejriwal Group, so that the produce fetches good remuneration,’’ said Ariz Ahmed, chief executive officer of the Assam Small Farmers’ Agri-Business Consortium.Earlier this week, Guwahati hosted a meeting organised by the Union agriculture ministry where entrepreneurs and farmers from Assam and other Northeastern states interacted directly with representatives of ITC and other big players of the food processing industry.‘‘Though the state’s farmers may not be able to meet the requirements of the huge food processing units right now, Assam does produce huge quantities of banana, pineapple and jackfruit, which can be channelised to the big units outside the region,’’ Ahmed said.The state government has already identified five crops—banana, pineapple, litchi, orange and cashewnut—for the first phase, while promising to set up a tissue-culture lab, a bio-control lab and a plant health clinic to provide technical support to the farmers.Assam currently produces about six lakh tonnes of banana of several varieties, nearly 2.5 lakh tonnes of pineapple and one lakh tonnes of oranges. Commercial litchi production is also picking up.‘‘Four mini-missions under the national horticulture mission have provided enough funds to extend R&D, storage and marketing support to the farmers. Growers of certain selected crops will also get 50 per cent subsidy as an additional incentive,’’ said Mahtabuddin Ahmed, director of agriculture, Assam government.The total area under horticulture crops has already gone up from about four lakh hectares to nearly 5.5 lakh hectares in three years, with fruit production rising to nearly 13 lakh tonnes, he added. The Northeast, incidentally, produces about 70 per cent of the country’s total pineapple output, of which Assam’s share alone is about 25 per cent.Big players like ITC are actively interested in the region. ‘‘While this region produces very good quality pineapple, we are also eyeing passion fruit as a major crop that can be lifted in huge quantities,’’ said Vijay Kidimbi, business manager of ITC International Business Division.ITC has also proposed providing latest market information for the fruit growers through Community Information Centres.
