Technical Assistance for Development of Sustainable Agricultural Value Chains in Mizoram

Strategic Objective 2: Make agriculture, forestry and fisheries more productive and sustainable

Objective: Improved capacity of community stakeholders to increase volume of marketed crops and livestock, with better returns to producers for enhanced environmental sustainability and improved profitability of farming systems in the State of Mizoram.

Description: Livestock are an integral part of Mizoram culture and diet and rural livelihoods, with most village households keeping atleast a few pigs and/or chickens. However, the number of these is declining. There is a need to enhance livestock productivity and strengthen relevant value chains in the State. The State needs technical interventions to support smallholder livestock farmers to (a) secure, timely and adequate access to basic production inputs such as feed; (b) disseminate livestock market information to livestock producers; and (c) strengthen relationships among various chain actors and farmers’ organizations to make livestock management sustainable. Jhum is the predominant agricultural land use system in Mizoram with the main crop being upland rice mixed with other crops such as, rice, maize, pulses, and vegetables. Most jhum land is only cultivated for one year. Jhum is highly labour intensive, yet crop yields are low and vulnerable to variations in rainfall. There is a lack of capacity in the State to develop differentiated strategies to create awareness and manage jhum cultivation in a sustainable manner, both economically and environmentally. Hence, there is a need to develop ecologically sustainable jhum and strengthen the capacity of relevant stakeholders for the same.

Further, Mizoram faces value chain constraints like: inadequate availability of quality planting material/seed; inappropriate/unscientific package of practices; lack of aggregation to determine the marketable quantity to feed into supply chain; lack of testing and certification to access premium organic markets; and limited access to market players from outside the State. It is important to address the capacity gaps amongst value chain stakeholders to coordinate and facilitate business promotion and development services. Other issues that need to be addressed are: weak management and business planning capacity of households and community organizations; information asymmetry between traders and producers; weak linkages with markets; lack of demand driven production planning; inadequate resource mobilisation for promoting farm or off-farm business enterprises, individual entrepreneurship; and value chain development.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is providing technical expertise to support the Government of Mizoram towards strengthening the capacity of community stakeholders for improved livestock management; sustainable jhum management and development of business plans for sustainable value chain development.

Donor: FAO

Expected outputs:

• Community stakeholders have access to quality training tools, methods and processes to increase volume of marketed crops and livestock.