State exports 2000 Kgs of organic ‘Bird Eye Chili’ to Visakhapatnam

The state government on Friday exported 2,000 kilograms of organic ‘Bird Eye Chili’, locally called ‘Dhanna Morich’, to Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.

The Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Ratan Lal Nath flagged off a train at Agartala Railway Station.

Later, Minister Nath said that immediately after the new government was formed in Tripura in 2018, a series of steps were taken to promote the state's organic products.

“Earlier, our government and department have exported various organic items like pineapple, scented rice, ginger, turmeric, pepper, etc., outside the state and even to foreign countries. This is the first time we are exporting 2,000 kilograms of organic ‘Bird Eye Chili’ locally called ‘Dhanna Morich’ to Visakhapatnam. These 2,000 kilograms of ‘Bird Eye Chili’ have been procured from the farmers of Dhalai, Gomati, and North Tripura districts. This quantity is valued at Rs 11 lakh,” said Minister Nath.

The Minister informed that the demand was higher than 2,000 kilograms; however, due to the recent floods that caused massive losses to agriculture and horticulture products, the quantity was limited.

He added that organic farming was done on only around 2,000 hectares of land across the state, but now it is being practiced on 20,000 hectares, a significant increase over the last five years.

“This year, we will be adding another 6,500 hectares to the existing land dedicated to organic farming. There were only 2,500 farmers engaged in organic farming earlier, but now the number has increased to 19,900,” he told reporters.

He also mentioned that during Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s visit to the North Eastern Council meeting, a MoU was signed with the Ministry of Cooperatives for exporting scented rice, medium-grain aromatic folk rice, 1,000 kilograms of black rice, and other farming products outside the state.

“Our goal is to increase production and market these products outside the state and abroad,” he added.