Minister Th Bishwajit Singh on Sunday visited the COSFOM Project village, Maohing in Kangpokpi District to review the progress of the activities carried out under the project. It was followed by an interaction session with the water Resource Conservation Group and SHGs.
The minister was accompanied by Dr AK Joshi, IFS, PCCF, and HoFF along with KfW Review team led by Jon Eric Voss, Project Manager, Sangeeta Agarwal, Senior Sector specialist, Saravana Kumar, Senior Specialist, Lidiya, Procurement Expert, Manohar Shreshtha, CTA-GFA, K.Hrishikesh, ACTA-GFA, Th Lokendro, AO and DFO Thoubal, and Chinpilhing Kipgen.
Villagers of Maohing also organised a blessing ceremony for the minister, including the ministerial team while conveying heartfelt gratitude to the team as it is the first time for the village to have high profile visitors.
The villagers highlighted the issue of frequent power cuts during the rainy season and appealed for the provision of solar lamps for school-going children. They also thanked the project team for providing employment generation through the project activities during the COVID Pandemic.
The Water Resources Conservation Group Chairman also informed that the village is free from poppy cultivation and the village authority is strongly against it.
He continued that the villagers will strive to protect and conserve the forest and environment and bring down the area under jhum cultivation and follow sustainable agricultural practices.
The team later went for a site inspection of the Community Nursery establishment and water Reservoir tank as part of the EPA and Agroforestry model.
The minister encouraged the villagers to continue the project with full dedication for better results and advised them to set up a vermi compost unit, including high-value tree crops as well as medicinal plants while urging them to refrain from jhum cultivation and follow agroforestry practices.
He also motivated the villagers to conserve pseudo ginseng which is almost on the verge of extinction in the village with the help of IBSD, Manipur.
It may be recalled that Maohing village is famous for good quality potato cultivation and a potato festival is held every year in the village during the month of July.
According to the villagers, the village will celebrate the Potato Festival on July 1 where every potato farmer from the village will display their products.
