A workshop on Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojna organized by the Federation of Industry & Commerce of North East Region (FINER) sponsored by Ministry of Food Processing Industries and supported by the department of Industries and Commerce, Nagaland was held at Kohima on 28th August.             Chief Secretary, Temjen Toy, said that 70 % of the Naga population depends on Agri sector for their livelihood but agriculture in Nagaland is conservative and traditional so more attention to increase in productivity should be emphasized.            Adding that, for a farmer to take their products beyond the farm gate is a major struggle starting with linkages of marketing outlets, cold storages and maintenance of cold chain linkage. Our state have the potential to export our products in a globally competitive market which we could compete with similar products yet marketing is an issue, Toy stated.
 Additional Secretary, Ministry of Food Processing Industries, Government of India, Dr. Rakesh Sarwal, IAS in his address said a large number of population in Nagaland depend on Agriculture, so in this sector one can be an entrepreneur in food processing which can help both the farmers get a better price for their products and also the entrepreneur to generate earnings, incomes and employments for the commercial produces they produced which also increase the state government income. He also said our state has the potential to be globally competitive as the entrepreneurs in our state has the ability, aspiration and the confident in themselves to compete globally and also natural organic raw materials are locally available in our state.            Dr. Rakesh Sarwal said that the MOFPI have sponsored the workshop to help the local entrepreneur of Nagaland to impart knowledge about the various food processing technologies, the different government assistances for the units and food processing policies. He also added MOFPI has a set of schemes to fund 50% of the project cost of the unit established. Dr. Rakesh Sarwal highlighted in brief about the different schemes under Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana and its benefits. He also highlighted about the cold storages, marketing outlets and encouraged the state government to set up more food testing laboratories in the state, to this he said MOFPI would assist 50% subsidy unit cost to any entrepreneurs wanting to establish a private food testing lab and also encouraged the government to set up entrepreneurs training centres in the district headquarters.            President, FINER, Pabitra Buragohain gave a brief introduction of FINER, and also requested 10 to 15 entrepreneurs to share their views and join to become a member of FINER so that a sector of FINER can be set up in Nagaland.            Subsequently, sessions on Processing Technology, opportunities and assistance were discussed in detail summing the workshop.