The Indian state of Sikkim has been studied by leading Asian countries like Japan and South Korea, who are expressing their interest in being engaged with Sikkim in terms of the cultivation and export of organic farm products.
Speaking at a news conference, State Agriculture department and Sikkim Organic Mission (SOM) secretary, Khorlo Bhutia informed the media that these Asian countries have expressed their interest to grow organic starch rice and vegetables in Sikkim. Not only are they interested in cultivating in Sikkim, in addition to this, they also want the organic productions to be exported to their respective nations.
The green veggies that Japan and South Korea want to grow in Sikkim include cabbage, green chilli, garlic and ginger along with crops like starch rice which will mostly be used for their domestic consumption.
According to sentinelassam.com, Bhutia added, “After Sikkim became fully organic, many countries have shown interest in exploring the opportunities and identification of areas of co-operation with Sikkim. The Mitsubishi Corporation from Japan has approached the department for sourcing organic commodities from Sikkim. Another business house is exploring the possibility of growing organic sticky rice here. Very recently a delegation from the Trade Office, Embassy of Republic of Korea visited Sikkim to source commodities especially, vegetables from the State.”
As expressed by the secretary, South Korea is more interested in sourcing raw materials for preparation of their popular delicacy ‘Kimchi’. Other countries too are looking for organic farming opportunities in Sikkim. Next week, a delegation from the Organic Federation of Ukraine is scheduled to visit Sikkim. This team of delegates will explore the business opportunities in the state as well as looking at the cultivation of buck wheat, garlic and pumpkins.
