Minister for Women Resource Development and Horticulture Salhoutuonuo Kruse who attended the National Conference on Agriculture Rabi Campaign 2025 under the theme “One Nation, One Agriculture, One Team” on September 15-16 at New Delhi underscored Nagaland’s potential for horticultural crops.
Highlighting that Nagaland has a huge potential for horticultural crops such as kiwi, pineapple, king chilli, sweet cucumber, oranges, apples, avocado, dragon fruit, persimmon, large cardamon, different flowers, mushrooms, many medicinal herbs etc., the minister stated that these crops are mostly grown organically in many places across the state.
She mentioned that Nagaland is also working towards making Nagaland the “Kiwi State of India” and thanked the ministry for providing the fund for area expansion and post-harvest management.
Kruse also requested the Ministry to grant a Centre of Excellence to enhance this programas well as for floriculture which is expanding every year.
She stated that it is the desire of the state to have a separate Horticulture College so that Nagas can be trained to take up horticulture as technical courses to further the cause of a sustainable economy. Towards this, she proposed to the Ministry to consider setting up of a Horticulture College in Nagaland.
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Also pointing to Nagaland’s tourism potential where thousands of foreign and domestic tourists visit the state every year, Kruse further highlighted the need for a State Horti Park where tourists can come and see the rich biodiversity of Nagaland in one place.
“As my counterparts has also stated about the link roads, I would also like to request for more link roads to be provided under some schemes where our farmers can supply their products through these roads. This is one area our farmers are really struggling especially in hilly and mountainous regions where everything is done in head loads. These link roads will hasten the supply and demand chain and ease the burden of our farmers,” the minister stated.
She mentioned that the state’s production for horticultural crops may not be significant at the moment as compared to other states, but underscored that local farmers are now becoming aware of the potential and focus on these crops are growing. She cited the examples of the state’s pineapples which is considered one of the sweetest varieties, kiwis, hottest chilli, some of the sweetest oranges, apples etc that are gradually gaining attention.
Minister Kruse also requested the Ministry to look into some of the schemes that the state’s horticulture is missing out and urgently need, including horticultural mechanization, seed scheme, natural farming scheme, digital agricultural scheme, agro forestry.
She assured that production would progress in no time with the best qualities as the Ministry continues to extend help and support Nagaland farmers. Kruse also thanked the Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan for organising the national conference where states could learn from each other towards improving production, supporting farmers and increase the economy of the country.
