Meghalaya CM releases Mission Jackfruit document

Mission jackfruit is speculated to generate livelihood opportunities for over 60,580 farmers, creating over 70 SMEs impacting over 2300 entrepreneurs and 300 nano enterprises in Meghalaya.

GUWAHATI: Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma released the Mission Jackfruit document on Monday which is aimed at improving value addition to the fruit to economically benefit thousands of farmers.

Notably, ‘Mission Jackfruit' is a five-year mission initiated by the Government of Meghalaya which intends to generate livelihood opportunities for over 60,580 farmers, creating over 70 SMEs impacting over 2300 entrepreneurs and 300 nano enterprises among others.

While launching the mission, Chief Minister Sangma said that jackfruit is readily available in Meghalaya. It will present an opportunity for the people of Meghalaya to turn it into a high value product with minimum work and investment.

It must be mentioned here that through the mission jackfruit, the government of Meghalaya 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.

The Chief Minister said that 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. The Chief Minister also 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.

Attending the launching programme, Agriculture Production Commissioner and Additional Chief Secretary KN 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 platform Sangma also gave away the certificates of excellence to city-based hotels and cafes' for their inclusion of jackfruit in the menus.