Tea & Trivia

Made In North East India

Think of North East India and one imagines aromatic and subtle tea flavors, heartwarming music, tribal exotica, cottage industries, award-winning sportsmen and sportswomen, wildlife sanctuaries and stunning locales. But the seven sister states i.e. Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Tripura, along with Sikkim are all that and much more.

• Arunachal Pradesh has potential to produce 60,000 Megawatt (MW) of energy, or approximately 25 per cent of India’s current power generating capacity. It is amongst India’s leading producers of orchids and fruits like pineapple, kiwis & oranges
• Assam is where India first struck oil. It accounts for 15% of India’s crude oil output and 50% of its onshore gas production. It is also the world’s single largest tea growing region
• Manipur is India’s gateway to the east with the only feasible land route for trade between India and Myanmar and other Southeast Asian countries
• Meghalaya is one of the leading producers and suppliers of cut flowers in India. It is one of the few states to have surplus power generation and is also home to the best varieties of turmeric in the world
• Mizoram is the second most literate state in India after Kerala and boasts of a literacy rate of over 91.85%. It is one of the leading producers of bamboo in the country contributing to 14 per cent of India’s bamboo stock.
• Nagaland has unexploited reserves of around 600 million metric tonnes (MT) of crude oil and more than 20 MT of hydrocarbon. The state also has 315 MT of coal reserves and 1,038 MT of limestone reserves
• Tripura is the second-largest producer of rubber in India and the largest producer of true potato seed
• Sikkim is India’s first fully organic state with more than 75,000 hectares of land under cultivation

All this is quite literally just the starting point of the powerhouse that North East India is. Ushered into the limelight with India’s ‘Look East Policy’ (rechristened the ‘Act East policy’), the region now stands tall in its potential. Today, backed by the sheer grit and will of the people, the North East is politically more stable than ever before. That in turn has created new opportunities. Money is finally being spent on large-scale social and economic development. Enterprises too are looking for new prospects and are investing in several infrastructure projects.

Additionally, rural skill development, agriculture and food processing have emerged as major focus areas by all state governments. With a forest cover of more than 66.1% against the national average of 21.1% and almost 70% of its population engaged in agriculture, the North East has a huge untapped potential for sustainable agriculture and organic farming.

Organic farming and the North East are not new to one other. Mizoram had pioneered developing an organic policy in 2004. But it was Sikkim that really implemented going organic in a statewide manner by disallowing chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Today it is India’s first and only ‘Organic State.’ Meghalaya, Tripura, Manipur and Nagaland have followed suit and are encouraging organic farming in a big way. ‘Mission Organic Value Chain Development’ for the region. If the scheme shapes up as well as it is intended, the North East could well emerge as an organic farming hub not just for India but for the whole world at large.

So the next time you’re sipping your aromatic Assam tea, broaden the horizon and re-think. We from the North East may well be serving you some thought for food and food for thought.