Resource Management Leads to Entrepreneurship and Supply Chain Creation in Border District of Nagaland
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“Through NIF’s help we have procured a food processing unit and have launched 17 products most of them herbal. We are preparing shampoos, oils, juices, candies, jams, pickles etc. Women traditionally take care of home and husband. But they are now taking care of the farm too,” Mrs. Chinge Lam, Taste of Noklak Society, Nagaland
Noklak is the newest District of Nagaland located in the easternmost part of the Country bordering Myanmar. There is a communication, connection and transportation problem in the region due to its distant location. Hence there was wastage of farm produce. So they needed a multi-food processing unit. NIF had earlier helped establish sanitary napkin making units in Tuensang and Kohima districts. This formed the basis of the request of the Superintendent of Police, Noklak, Dr Pritpal Kaur IPS, who got in touch with NIF to help introduce innovations in the district which could open new avenues for the people there.
The community attended training sessions from distant places like Dimapur and then KVK of the Noklak district helped in sharpening of the skills and other related coordinations. They gained FSSAI certification for the 17 products developed through the multi-food processing unit procured through NIF. These products have been exhibited at Horn-Bill festival of Nagaland and many other exhibitions nationwide along with marketing them inside of the district and also in Kohima district. Since the raw materials are from the owners’ farms, hence they have around 30-40% profits. A supply chain has also been created through the FPOs.
A society, Taste of Noklak, was identified by the Kaur to undertake training on the multipurpose food processing machine provided by NIF. The machine, developed by grassroots innovator, Shri Dharamvir Kamboj of Haryana is capable of processing various fruits for juice, jam, ketchup purposes and extracting essential oils from various herbs as well. The innovator provided training to the members of the society who used it to make aloe vera/ neem / tulsi gel, large cardamom/ ginger extract, kiwi candies, mango, wild apple and pineapple juice, and many other herbal products.
Members of the society come from different villages and work together to produce these products now, which are much appreciated by the people. They plan to involve more people and scale up production so as to reach out to a larger market. The community representatives like Dr Ching Lam and Mrs. Mongshai Hanthing are giving training to other community members as master resource persons. There is a need for cold storage and transportation links. They also need help in validation, nutritional certification, standardization, branding and packaging.
