Agro start-ups make for safer fences
A string of ‘agro start-ups’ in resource-rich border areas, where putting up heavy industries is difficult and time-consuming, will not only ensure employment and sustainable development but also curb anti-State activities in this region.
Last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in Dibrugarh, Assam, to inaugurate two industrial projects. Using the occasion to talk about the chronic unemployment problem in the North-East, Modi said two types of businesses could generate employment in the underdeveloped region: The ones that value-add to natural resources and ancillary units.
His thrust on businesses that value-add to natural resources reminded me of a recent trip to Meghalaya and the Urlong Tea project, the state’s first certified organic tea. While I am sure that Modi had bigger plans on his mind when he talked about industries that value-add to natural resources, it would also be worthwhile to look at Urlong tea-type micro ‘start-ups’, which, like their tech-based counterparts, can provide employment, have the capacity to innovate and are scalable.
The Urlong tea project, which started in 2011, works on a cooperative model under the Urlong Tea Integrated Village Cooperative Society in Mawlyngot village in Meghalaya’s East Khasi Hills district. The tea growers own and run their individual gardens but they sell the leaves to the society, which is run by villagers. It has not only provided employment to several local families in the village but has also brought an end to alcoholism and early marriages, and improved the economic and educational status of the village. And thanks to technology, no market is too far anymore: Along with brick and mortar stores, several online platforms also sell their black, green and white tea.
The turnover of the business has been rising over the years. Annually 1.5 tonnes of tea is produced, which fetches the society around Rs 15 lakh. Seven neighbouring villages have started doing tea plantation and will now supply to the factory.
The success of Urlong tea is also a feather in the cap for the Border Area Development Programme (BADP), which the Union ministry of home affairs runs in 367 blocks in 104 border districts (such as the East Khasi Hills district) in 17 states. The BADP was started in 1986-87 for developing border areas of states bordering Pakistan, but subsequently extended to all land borders. The programme is supplemental in nature and the budget allocation for 2015-16 is Rs 990 crore.
What Meghalaya has done for Urlong tea, why can’t the same be done for Manipur’s oranges or Tripura’s pineapples? In fact, there could be several ‘value-additions’ to these products. A string of ‘agro start-ups’ in these resource-rich border areas, where putting up heavy industries is difficult and time-consuming, will not only ensure employment and sustainable development but also curb anti-State activities in this region.