Youth in Manipur take up medicinal, aromatic plants farming

ANI
Bishnupur, July 1: Under the ‘Make in Manipur’ initiative as part of the ‘Make in India’ campaign launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, aromatic and medicinal development centre in the state is generating job opportunities for the unemployed youth besides helping farmers.
Entrepreneurship in aromatic and medicinal plants has tremendous potential in Manipur, which is considered to be the gateway to South East Asia.
Four youth from Bishnupur district set up an Aromatic and Medicinal Development Centre in 2015 in collaboration with the government.
The firm spread over 500 acres is helping grow plants like stevia, lemon grass, ginger and turmeric.
The firm, which employs around 70 people on a daily basis, aims to provide employment to at least 2,000 persons on a sustainable basis in future.
With this initiative, the centre has greatly helped farmers engaged in aromatic herbs cultivation.
“When ‘Make in Manipur’ project was started, four people from each district were selected and given training on aromatic and medicinal plant. I was also selected and was part of the training. After the training, I gave a proposal to the Commercial Industry department to set up a firm on medicinal plantation,” said Wahengbam Lamnganba, Secretary, Aromatic and Medicinal Development Centre.
Wahengbam helped the firm to develop a farm of Lemon Grass and an oil extraction plant from lemon grass.
Technical support and infrastructure for distillation has been provided by the Commerce and Industries department of Manipur which is also offering marketing support.
The firm is catering to the demands of oil for various products like Perfumery, soaps and cosmetics.
“I have no other job apart from this. With the salary I have received from here, I am able to look after my children and manage to pay their school fees and other basic needs,” said Dona, a staff.
Cultivating aromatic herbs and medicinal plants has greatly helped the farmers in Manipur.
Keeping this in mind, Manipur Food Industries Corporation is encouraging the farmers to grow aromatic and medicinal plants in their own land with financial assistance from the banks.