Nagaland could see investment in Agro sector

Kohima, Mar 30 (UNI) Nagaland has the potential to become the industrial hub of South East Asia with its several strategic advantages as recognised by industrialists attending the North East Agri Expo, 2006, at Dimapur.

This was disclosed by the Senior Director and Head, Agriculture and Food Processing of the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) Indrani Kar and said that many of the attending industrialists will certainly be back with concrete proposals soon as they were convinced after coming to Dimapur that things have changed here.

She also felt the NE region could also become a major tourism hub, if the state government seriously developed this potential. The state is full of natural beauties with rich traditional culture to attract the tourists if adequate facilities are made available in the state.

Mr M Srinivasa Rao, head of the new industries of the international business division of ITC Ltd, said the company was exploring possibilities of setting up food processing and other units in Nagaland. "In a world market that is witnessing a dramatic shift towards organic farming, Nagaland had a definite advantage.

Horticulture, lemon, ginger and passion fruit were some of the areas the company was considering to invest in," he revealed.

Asher Dominic Yourey, Chief Executive Officer of Trinity Oilseeds, disclosed he was keen to invest in value added processing in agro-food, horticulture and dairy and livestock sectors and commercial for farming of medicinal plants.

Mr M K Jalan, Chairman Kreventer Agro Ltd., said commercial farming of honey and fruits was a special interest area. Sreeram Chellappa, CEO Amrit Hatcheries, hoped to invest in value added processing in poultry sector.

Henning Thiel, CDM Manager of Eco Securities, UK Ltd is keen in distribution and marketing of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and showing investors opportunities to gain additional income streams.

UNI AS BA/src1206