A one-day ‘Off-Taker Meet 2026’ under the theme connecting producers, markets and technology for a stronger market ecosystem organized by ELEMENT Nagaland Project under SoCRAN was held at Hotel Vivor, Kohima on 7th October 2026.
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Secretary, Industries & Commerce and Project Director, ELEMENT, Kumar Ramnikant, IAS in his keynote address, stated that Nagaland State is recognized as a biodiversity household with rich flora and fauna, forests, farms, and community landscapes closely linked to the livelihoods of the people and added that products such as coffee, honey, large cardamom, Naga chilly, black rice, millets, medicinal plants, and wild fruits represent not only the state’s natural and cultural wealth but is a significant sustainable income generator. He therefore said if communities have to derive greater benefits from these landscapes, we must strengthen the value chains that connect producers to democratizing markets and focusing on enhancing landscape-based value chains for economic transformation through one of ELEMENT project components so as to support producer groups in aggregation, decentralized coffee processing, centralized honey processing, quality and certification, branding, and end-to-end enterprise development.
He also added that the project is leveraging the support of existing stakeholders to address identified gaps and challenges, as the value chain does not end at the farm gate or processing unit but succeed when quality product reaches a reliable buyer at a fair and commercially viable price. Remarking to the gap between what the producers can supply and what markets requires, Kumar Ramnikant, IAS pointed out that producers need greater clarity on quality grades, certification, packaging, volumes, price benchmarks, delivery schedules, and presentation and also buyers need better visibility of what Nagaland can supply, in volumes and consistency.
Kumar Ramnikant, IAS, therefore highlighted that the purpose of the ‘Off-Taker Meet 2026’, was to create a structured dialog between producers and markets, to articulate their requirements clearly and also the certification partners to have an equally important role as many the products of the state originate from community managed and traditional landscapes and are in need of practical and achievable pathways for certification, quality assurance and traceability and marketability. He also pointed out that Financial Institutions can support the working capital and investment requirements of producer, institutions and enterprises, and asked to create convergence around the value chain so that the government support is coordinated and coherent from the perspective of the community for sustainable economic opportunities ensuring responsible management of the landscape on which these livelihoods depend.
A power-point presentation on Project ELEMENT & Offtaker Meet was also presented by C Value Chain Expert, ELEMENT, Amarjit Lahkar. During the programme, welcome address was delivered by Dy, PD, ELEMENT, Kedino Zango (Chair), while the vote of thanks was proposed by Deputy Secretary, Agriculture Chonpenthung Ezung, NCS. An awareness video by Dreamz Unlimited titled ‘Project Awareness’ was also released during the programme.
