Meghalaya CM releases Mission Jackfurit document

Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma Monday released the Mission Jackfruit document which is aimed at improving value addition to the fruit to economically benefit thousand of farmers in rural areas.

Mission Jackfruit is a five year mission which aims to generate employment opportunities for over 60,580 farmers, creating over 70 SMEs impacting over 2300 entrepreneurs and 300 nano enterprises among others in the chain of beneficiaries.

"This super food is readily available in our state. It presents an opportunity for us to turn it into a high value product with minimum work and investment," the chief minister said at the launch programme.

Through the mission the government will make an investment of about 67.08 crore over a 5 year period of which 40.07 crore will be the Central share with the rest being borne by the state government.

He said the government can create the policies, infrastructure and create the eco system for businesses to grow but it will require the involvement of all the stakeholders to make the mission a real success.

Highlighting the crucial role of entrepreneurs for the success of the mission, the chief minister urged the hotels and the hospitality sector to tie up with village level product suppliers and SHGs to boost the rural economy.

Terming the creation of the Directorate of food processing as a positive step the chief minister expressed hope that other such missions will be initiated in the near future.

Agriculture production commissioner and additional chief secretary K N Kumar said the mission jackfruit will benefit the farmers and boost the rural economy.

Earlier, the chief minister also unveiled 'Superjack', the jackfruit mascot, which will be the brand ambassador of Mission Jackfruit across social media platforms.

The Chief Minister also gave away the certificates of excellence to city-based hotels and cafes' for their inclusion of jackfruit in the menus. Hotel Heiga VNS, Hotel Centre Point and Little Chef Cafe who were adjudged winners of the Jackfruit Cuisine Tasting event held earlier this year.

The draft Mission Jackfruit document was first released by the chief Minister for public and stakeholders comments in July last which attracted a number of very constructive comments and suggestions and which have been incorporated in to the final mission document.

A number of pre-launch activities centred on Jackfruit had been undertaken by the state government through the Meghalaya Institute of Entrepreneurship.

More than 100 farmers were trained and several workshops were also held.