'Research on Ginger in Meghalaya\r'

' shroud on the field study of pep and turmeric in Meghalaya PREFACE Meghalaya is a state which is plenteous in natural resources, be it from flora to beast to the mineral resources, the state has it in abundance. Agriculture, including discerp and savage husban juice slight, fisheries, forestry and agro touch constitutes the truly(prenominal) basis of socio economic lives of India. iodin of the major activities in the state is g wrong of horticulture straddles which includes that of gingery and Turmeric.Ginger is world predominantly grown in Ri Bhoi district objet dart al approximately the solid blast of Jaintia Hills, the scoop grapheme of Turmeric found in the hearty country with the reported cucurmin content up to 7. 6%. However amidst plenty of what we become, thither atomic number 18 in to each one(a) case umpteen missing links in mingled with for the state to realize the full potential in terms of commercial activities in r tied(p)ues and most fore shortenifi erecttly to adjoinress the issues of the uttermostmers to increase the income for better livelihoods in the circumscribetlements. at that placefore the trade access team from MBDA along with the staffs of Appropriate engineering India (ATI) made a visit to some of the of the essence(p) tillage belt of zest and turmeric of Ri Bhoi dominion and West Jaintia Hills District for assess handst of production which includes farming rehearses as sound as to a lower placestanding the innate practices for the potential of thorough certification for gift great deal of the products, post going and do peeing aspects as surface as merchandiseing aspects for change livelihood warranter in the state.The visit was spanned in six age and at bottom these six cardinal-four hourss; the broadcast was conducted in the following order: 12th February 2013 On this day the team comprising of three interns from MBDA and five ATI workforce downstairs the supervision of Mr Iai Majaw, the Horticulture Officer with the Government of Meghalaya, left Shillong at near 10 AM and visited the Ginger belt of Ri Bhoi District. Firstly we visited the farm house which is located adjoining to the Highway to Guwahati at Umsning. at that place we met and interacted with just ab let on twenty five spice up cultivators in and around Umsning.These colonys be located within the distance of 1 to 3 kilometers from Umsning. The farmers start sowing zest from the last week of April passim the month of whitethorn. We came to know that they inherited the powdered ginger floriculture practices from their fore fathers experienceing that the climate is conducive for the crop to thrive and that at that place is a commercialize for all in all of their catch from year to year. The main ara of revive for them is that, the plant is frequently bear onting infected with beneathstructure and stem rotting, thusly sp crudeing their effort in time and money.S tem rot is more frequent than melodic theme rot and occurs in between the months of June to September. They don’t study any solution to tractor trailer these kind-hearted of infections, the only natural process that they do is to up cool off the undivided crop and throw it as far as possible from the coating get to and some measure horizontal editing that particular crop besides it r arly help the cause as the infection give start to spread to the self-coloured row and even at time the w seaman field. They practiced Jhum refining with the belief that it s muchs the stain and helps in the ploughing activity.They to a fault have a delightful idea of the causa behind crop rotation and practiced it erst go in 3 years. They do give spread to the crop once in a while in the recoil of poultry, pig and cow droppings. They verbalise that they have authorized readiness from the horticulture officers but most of the time they apply those methods macrocosmne ss taught to them in the offset phase but revert back to their handed-down method of goal. They stored the set in a seemly way and have no problem with the event of come spoilage in the first place the gloss period.The nearby grocery for them is the Umsning grocery which is be held once a week. At the weekly market, traders which atomic number 18 middle men come to purchase their crop at place of 1,100 †1, two hundred rupees per 40 kgs which is a standard unit of establishment of weights existence applied in terms of ginger and turmeric in the whole atomic number 18a. However, when they feel that a better price is visible(prenominal) at Iewduh market in Shillong or when t here(predicate) is a wishing to go Shillong for personal work, they carry along the ginger which catched them a price of around 1,500 †1,600 per 40 kgs.From at that place the team moved to Sohpdok village which is approximately 5 kms from Umsning. Here we interacted with the headma n of the village and around 15 farmers in the processing unit which is attached to the SSA crop premises and found out that the ginger tillage was enlarge by the interpellation and help of RRTC, Umran. on that point be 3 driers, 2 slicers and 1 pulveriser at the processing unit which is not further useable as they have clean received the automobiles from compass north easterly Hill University.The problems and practices regarding the cultivation practices are the aforestate(prenominal) as the ones which have been described above. However, the mess said that they rate of ginger that they take at the village when traders come to collect from the village is around 900 †1,000 rupees per 40 kgs. The last visit for the day was at regional alternative Training Centre (RRTC) Umran, which is run by the Catholic Church and presently headed by get chthonic ones skin James.The center spans around 400 acres campus and facilitates in imparting readiness to various livelihoo d and entrepreneurship program and one of the main activities is the food processing focalise which includes turmeric and ginger processing. The ginger after(prenominal) undergoing a series of treatment which includes peeling, trimming, weighing, washing, and processing by boil with citric acid is because mildly change and mixed with fine sugar in limited proportions and past right dried and added with sugar to add as topping. It is then packed and labeled as Ginger Candy.The ginger candy is retailed at an MRP of 35 rupees for 100gms. When asked about the monetary take accounting, the staff who is taking care of the processing unit said that the whole cost of crunch and various activities from start to finish is around one hundred twenty †150 rupees/kg, while the retail cost is 350 rupees/kg thus making a profit of cc rupees/kg. The ginger is alike converted into mill organise frontmostly dipping the dried ginger in sodium Carbonate solution to increase the shel f career of the product and then grind to powder and packed.The corresponding goes for turmeric which is simply grind into powder song and retailed at the stores. Their main area of concern is marketing, which they interpret they have a limited penetration to the market finished their retail outlet next to the depicted object highway and some retail shops in and around Shillong. 13th February 2013 The team left for Nongpoh and along with the vivacious ERPs of MBDA went to Umkon village which is 23 kms away from it. Here we interacted with salutary around 5 farmers as thither is a funeral in the village. Almost each and either ousehold practice ginger cultivation in large casing and turmeric cultivation for their own consumption on a lower scale. Almost all of the business firms pass along 500 kgs of ginger production in a year with some of them going up to 3 or 4 tonnes. The main market is at Umden in which the price of the ginger is around 1,000 rupees/40 kgs while the beginning is existence sold at 35 rupees/kg. The seed is cosmos sold among the farmers from nearby areas and new farmers while the cranky ginger is world bought by middlemen and commission agents who then supply two to Guwahati or Kolkata right away.The main areas of concern for the farmers is again the akin issue of their inability and lack of knowledge how to tackle diseases much(prenominal) as stem and root rot. However, they dual-lane their success story of how ginger cultivation has modify the general living conditions in and around the area. on that point is no assess added activity for the ginger being produced in the area. Then at around 4 pm we left for Byrnihat to visit the North Eastern regional Agricultural Marketing Corporation Ltd (NERAMAC).There is a processing plant to extract ginger oil from irreverent or newfangled ginger. The plant qualification is around 3 to 5 tonnes per day, yielding 1. 5 liters of oil which retails at 7000 †9000 rupees/li ter. The major problem that they are facing is the availability of raw ginger as most of the ginger which is produced within the region is being sold to middlemen at a higher rate. fourteenth February 2013 The team left Shillong at around 8 AM for the turmeric belt of West Jaintia Hills District.We stationed at CTC hotel and then under the supervision of Mr Lyngdoh, a horticulture officer with the Govt. of Meghalaya, proceeded to Wahiajer village where we interacted with 2 farmers, one farmer just started the ginger cultivation activity since he saw that there is a market and the soil is very good for ginger to grow, so keeping in mind of the above factors he started cultivating ginger and after harvesting the produce, decided not to sell any of it but to keep it as seed for the next year.When we arrived there we interacted with him and asked him to show us the place where the seed is being store and when he dug up some of the seed, even though the ginger lumber and size is good, it was found that the whole ginger is moist and wet and infected with fungus, budding has also begun to contribute place. He said that he has received no training on how to cultivate, harvest and store the ginger so he is not aware of what procedures and process to follow.Then we told him to take out the whole lot of ginger stored there and to dry it in the note and treat it with natural chemicals which might be available at the horticulture office in the block. Being a churl in the activity he is unaware of the whole system, except the price that he might get if he is to sell the product at the local anesthetic market. He also practices slash and burn cultivation like the rest of the farmers are doing in the whole area.We then met with anformer(a) farmer who has been practicing the ginger cultivation activity for preferably some years but he confessed that he is quite disheartened with the activity as there is no help from the organisation side in monetary terms nor in tra ining facilities, so he is contemplating of shifting his cultivation activity from ginger to that of tomato as there is a better market currently dominant in the whole area. The horticulture department is also neglecting the ginger farmers in the area while promoting that of the tomato.We then proceed to Laskein grinding and processing centre which has a compact comprising of 9 clusters, 30 villages and around 100 SHGs. The building block was set up in 2007 with the objective of improving livelihood and income within the area. The processing unit was set up with the help of MRDS which also helps in the training of man power as well as marketing activities. The unit is well equipped with Dryers, Slicers, Pulverisers and for the first time this year an Oil extractor machine is being set up which leave behind be functional from this year onwards, the staffs also are yet to get training how to utilize the machine.The steps in the processing of ginger in the unit here are as follows: WASHING BOILING slicing DRYING GRINDING PACKAGING The production of turmeric powder last year was around 3 tonnes and this year they aimed at a higher quantity. Each and every cluster of villages which falls under the association have a commitment to bring the produce of raw turmeric to the processing centre and the Federation buys it at a rate of 30 rupees/kg, when the turmeric is being sold in powder form at 250 rupees/kg as of last year, 230 rupees is being give back to the farmer and 20 rupees is being kept by the federation.The packaging is done in quantities of 1/4th kg, ? kg and 1 kg for the local market while it is packed in gunny bags of 40 kgs each for the lot which is supposed to be transported to Guwahati. 15th February 2013 The team accompanied by Mr Remi from MRDS went to Umsalait village which falls under Iakitlang cluster, comprising of two villages, Umsalait and Umsaroo which has 245 and 70 households respectively. There are 6 SHGs in the cluster, out of which 5 groups incorporate of women and 1 group that of men.The team interacted with around 30 farmers and learnt that they have been practicing the cultivation of turmeric from propagation which they inherited from their forefathers but increased the activity to a larger scale as soon as they see that there is a market and it contributes to the propagation of income activity. The problems faced by the farmers are almost the akin throughout the state in which the major issues are that of diseases and not knowing how to tackle them.They are quite grateful to MRDS which helped them in imparting knowledge and bullion even if it’s in small mount, the intervention has helped them to increase their income for a better living conditions. sixteenth February 2013 The team visited Mr W. Nongspung processing centre situated at Laitkor which is roughly 12 kms from Shillong. Mr Nongspung took advantage of the PMEGP scheme from DIC, Shillong and set up his processing centre there.However, f ewer spices products are being processed at his unit since he only supply dry turmeric to a company in Guwahati known as alter Plantations, located at Christian Basti on a commission basis. His commission stands at 20 rupees/kg. He supplies around 30 tonnes of dry turmeric in a year and the company financed the money whole in advance. Owing to this, he processed dry turmeric at a very less amount. He then started processing fruit juices such as star fruit, cherry as well as pickling of ginger, radish, chillies and bamboo shoots.His products have Organic tags along with them, while there is no proof of paper work that his products are total certified. He sources the packaging materials from industrial estate in Guwahati and get the label topically printed in Shillong. According to him, the major difficulty he is facing is that he doesn’t know how to market his products in a big way and he has no idea about branding at all OBSERVATIONS Below are the few parameters of ceremo nial prevailing in the production areas where the team has visited a) domain AND takeMost of the households in the villages which fall under the area that we have visited do not have a fair idea of the size of their respective plot under ginger and turmeric cultivation. From the conversation that we had we could wreak out that the minimum area of cultivation per family is around 1 acre up to 4 to 5 hectares. As far as production is concerned, the quantity that each household produces ranges from 750 kg to 5 tonnes. b) LAND USE The land that is used is commonly rotational and at times shifting and bun cultivation is a normal practice which is handed-down in nature.The area to be cultivated is first covered with the soil on top of the leaves and then slowly burned and frequently left overnight so as to break the soil in the ploughing process thus easing the tilling process. This practice also helps in sterilization of the soil. The outlandish land is mostly owned and control led by several(prenominal) farmers and some of them have been leased by people who are not intermeshed in agricultural activities who are mostly traders or government servants or who have migrated from the village on a nominal fee or in exchange for the products the cultivate. ) LAND PREPARATION Ginger and turmeric is usually cultivated in slopes and terrains under the shade of some trees. The land is normally not move but just holed and dug up to 6 to 7 inches for the seed to be buried interior. rattling few farmers added manure of animal dung to the crop while the rest just leave it as it is. There are no proper irrigation facilities to nurse the irrigate content during the rainy season, thus deviation the crop to absorb as much water as ossible during the rainy season and dried throughout the rest of the months. d) SELECTION OF SEED After the harvest is done, rhizomes which are large, healthy, free from any injury spy and more buds are selected to be stored as seed. The seeds in the case of turmeric are simply stored under the shade above the terms and normally very few infections would occur on turmeric seed, whereas in the case of ginger it is more complicated as the seed is normally infected with fungus and budding ordinarily takes place before the sowing season.The method of storage is traditional in practice as the seed is stored under a mate dug below the ground and simply covered with a thin grade of soil thus attracting wet and fungus to infect the seed. There are many cases in which farmers have complained that the seed gets spoiled before the sowing season starts. e) PLANTING lay is usually done in the month of April to May just at the start of the rain. The rhizomes are set in about 6 inches apart from each other and 6 to 8 inches deep and then covered with soil. During plantation the rhizomes are broken and make sure that they at least have 4 to 6 budding sprouts.The turmeric and ginger is normally cultivated along some other vegetables in the field such as beans, maize and pumpkin. f) harvest time The harvest is done in when the crop attains maturity, the sign accustomed by the death of the stem and leaves. It usually starts from early November and goes till the end of January. The seed is normally left till end of February to attain utmost maturity. Farmers also sometimes look at the market make and when they know that there is a demand for the product in the market, they normally harvest the crop as and when required. ) MARKETING The marketing of ginger and turmeric usually happens in weekly local markets which are near to the villages and sometimes at Iewduh, in Shillong. heraldic bearing agents, middle men and traders purchase the products at a wholesale rate from local markets and then relegate out and grade the lot according to the quality and packed them in gunny bags to be transported removed the state. In case of turmeric, trade happens mostly as a dry material in the form of slices or i n powder, whereas in case of ginger trade happens at the raw or fresh ginger state. and so we can see that the middlemen control the market of ginger and turmeric in the whole state. h) be 1) Cultivation-(umsalait) For 1 hectare land, they consume around 10 people for 60 days and labour cost is Rs 200/day. (a) fatigue 10 x 60 = 600 (b) Labour bell 600 x 200 = Rs 1,20,000 (c) Seed greet Rs 30 x 2000kg = Rs Rs 60,000 ————————————————————————†DIRECT TOTAL court = Rs 1, 80,000The production from 2000kg seed is around 5 tonnes. And the cost of raw turmeric is Rs 30/kg PRODUCTION OUTPUT= 30 x 5000 = Rs 1, 50,000 Therefore we can see that the expenditure exceeds sale, thus instead of benefitting from the agricultural activity, the farmers are suffering losses, which they cannot understand as there is no costing method being followed. 2) Processing-(laskein) Cost of raw turmeric is Rs 30/kg. if 100kg is taken for processing, then cost of procuring raw turmeric will be Rs 3000. kg of raw turmeric when dried will produce only 1kg. Therefore 100kg will produce 17kg of dried turmeric. a) Cost of dried turmeric = 3000 / 17kg = Rs 176/kg b) Other Indirect Cost = Rs 100/kg (sorting, washing, drying, slicing, grinding, packaging, transportation, electricity bills and other miscellaneous fee) ___________________________________________________________ TOTAL be PER KG = Rs 276SELLING PRICE OF 1kg POWDERED TURMERIC = Rs 250 Thus over here we can also see expenditure exceeds sale which results in a loss for the farmers. From the above analysis, it can be concluded that there is a need to reduce the DIRECT embody and to increase the Seed to Production Output in order to generate higher revenue. Interventions like gateway of power tillers, is not feasible because the cultivated areas are located in far away terrain and slopes , which are not motorable. ORGANIC PRACTICES AND SCOPE OF CERTIFICATIONAs the method of cultivation in the whole state is mostly organic in nature and with the awareness on immenseness of organic certification that organic products fetches a premium price in the market, there is a need to promote and to create awareness among the farmers to opt for organic certification so as to increase their income from change their products. While discussing with various farmers, it is found out that organic farming, although practiced, is mostly done using traditional methods which consist mainly of slash and burn and converting.However, the â€Å"slash and burn” method is not considered as organic method because it kills the microbes which fertilize the field. Also, they have no access or awareness about organic pesticides like Trichogramma which is available from the State Biological Control Laboratory in Shillong. And Trichoderma which is use mainly for Ginger and Turmeric is sett le down in the testing stage and will be available shortly. Some of the reasons that the farmers have not under gone organic certifications are mentioned below- 1) No awareness about organic certifications and its potential. ) The farmers have not received any training methods regarding organic farming. 3) They are also not aware of the market and its demand for organic products. 4) The certification process is quite long which takes up to three years. On top of that, the certificate has to be renewed every year. 5) It is also quite expensive. PROBLEMS face BY THE FARMERS/ PRODUCERS AT PRODUCTION LEVEL 1) depleted yield of the horticultural crops in which the ratio is 1:2. ) Prevalence of bacterial and fungal infections which affect both stem rot as well as root rot 3) Unsuitable farming practices with lamentable drainage system to retain water 4) precise seldom crop rotation to fill up soil nutrients 5) Jhum cultivation in which the soil microorganisms died in the process 6) N o organic manure is being given to the crops 7) There is no treatment of the seed before sowing 8) There is no capacity building measures being taken to tackle infections and other diseases.POST HARVESTING AND touch ASPECTS 1) 99% of the farmers sell ginger as a raw produce while turmeric is often converted to dry slices or at times into powder form but at a lower scale. 2) The market is being dominated by the middle men 3) There is no system of grading the ginger based on size and quality 4) The seed to be stored is not harvested at the right time so as it is uprise enough to resist spoilage and not properly dried to resist fungal infection 5) deprivation of knowledge and training how to store the seed ) neglect of knowledge regarding value addition activities which will fetch a premium price 7) Lack of assume technology and infrastructure in many aspects of juvenile storage. SUGGESTIONS FOR TRAINING/MBDA INTERVENTION CULTIVATION LEVEL 1) give-and-take of the seed with organ ic chemicals such as Trichoderma, one day before sowing to control any seed infection later on. 2) Use of organic compost manure to increase the yield and productivity 3) puritanical inter-culture activities from month to month ) Digging of horizontal drain-like pit of about ? ft depth perpendicular to the cultivation rows in terrain areas for water and manure retention. 5) Training in capacity building measures to tackle infections and diseases of both root and stem. 6) Practicing rotation cultivation of turmeric and ginger with leguminous plants on a yearly basis to replenish the nitrogen content of the soil 7) The seed which has to be stored needs to be harvested when it has matured. POST HARVESTING ) mark and segregating the harvest if needed 2) Proper drying of the seed for a week under the shade to avoid moisture content in order to foresee fungus infection during storage. 3) Modern method of storage to maintain the health and freshness of the seed, by digging a hole up to 1 ? ft deep inside the ground and covered with lumps of soil up to 1 ft height and then plaster with a thin layer of wet mud to prevent entry of moisture. 4) Costing method should be taught. 5) enter keeping and internal assessment. ) Awareness of the importance of value addition process post harvesting. 7) Exposure visit. 8) The officers at various levels in District headquarters should swordplay a pro-active role in imparting training and looking at various aspects where there could be an intervention. CONCLUSION In both cases of Turmeric and Ginger, there is hardly any value addition that is being done in the State. Middlemen control the market and influenced the edition in price of both these items.In the case of Ginger alone, except for a meager percentage which gets converted into Ginger Candy at Regional Resource Training Centre (RRTC), Umran and North Eastern Regional Agricultural Marketing Corporation Ltd (NERAMAC), Byrnihat, there is no other value addition activity bei ng practiced in the State. The whole amount of raw ginger is being packed into sacks of gunny bags of 40kgs and transported directly to Guwahati and Kolkata, thus we are deprived of the real value of what ginger could have fetched if proper knowledge, skills and machineries are being set up for value addition activities within the state.Whereas in terms of Turmeric, people are more aware of the better price which powder turmeric fetches in the market. Beside few turmeric processing units at the village level which were set up by Self Help Groups (SHG) at the cluster or village level, such as one at Laskein Block in West Jaintia Hills and smaller individual Grinding units at Shangpung and Laitkor, there are many small entrepreneurs who take their produce of dry turmeric to grind at any of these grinding units and sell at local markets as well as in the main market, Iewduh in Shillong.Of what we observed, most of the farmers problematical in cultivation of turmeric and ginger, are wo men which comprises of around 70 percent workforce, the men are usually involve during ploughing activity which is more related to strength but as soon as the sowing season started they shifted to other kinds of works or migrated to other villages in search of work. Thus there is a lot desired and to be done in order to improve livelihood security through integration in growth value chain and market linkages in Meghalaya. ______________________________________________________________________\r\n'