Meghalaya chief minister Conrad K Sangma said that the government is working on a number of interventions to promote value-added jackfruit products in the state under its flagship scheme – ‘Jackfruit Mission’.
In 2018, the ‘Jackfruit Mission’ was launched in the state and is being implemented by the directorate of food processing of the state government.
Through the programme, the government is supporting the farmers engaged in jackfruit plantation and is providing training and other support to leverage their activities by connecting them with market linkage.
Speaking at the ‘Nano Jackfruit Entrepreneurs’ event at the College of Community Science, the CM said that with jackfruit grown abundantly in the state, the jackfruit mission was launched with a view to create livelihood and value chain.
Interacted on issues and progress of nano jackfruit entrepreneurs in Tura today. Under the State's #JackfruitMission our farmers have come up with various innovations to create value chain for jackfruit products. We are happy to support them in their ventures. @nstomar pic.twitter.com/NYpZ5HyVEL
— Conrad K Sangma (@SangmaConrad) June 21, 2021
“The mission will be a game-changer as the demand for jackfruit products in the international market are very high,” he said.
Lauding the efforts of the entrepreneurs, Sangma said that the state government will provide help to the nano entrepreneurs to take the mission forward thereby bringing the benefits of jackfruit to the people.
Sangma also said about the CM’s support for producers group, wherein Rs 5000 each is provided to individuals who collectively comes together to form a group.
“Under the programme, each individual entrepreneurs or farmers with similar interest can come together and avail the support to further their entrepreneurial activities or use it as a start-up fund to begin their venture,” he said.
He said that Rs. 5 crores have already been sanctioned to take this project forward. He also added that the government is playing a pro-active role to create market linkages with neighbouring Bangladesh and Arab countries among others to create value chain and job opportunity.