New Delhi

A High-Level Task Force on the Northeastern states on Wednesday underscored the need to bridge critical gaps in value chains and market connectivity to build a stronger and more resilient agriculture and horticulture ecosystem across the region.

The meeting was attended by Union Minister for Development of the North Eastern Region (DoNER) Jyotiraditya Scindia, along with two chief ministers and three agriculture ministers from the Northeast.

According to an official statement, the Task Force focused on identifying weaknesses in production, post-harvest management, processing, marketing and logistics, and discussed ways to address these through targeted interventions. Emphasis was laid on leveraging the Northeast’s natural strengths in agriculture and horticulture, with quality, specialisation and uniqueness positioned as the region’s key differentiators in national and global markets.

The Task Force reiterated that a product-focused, cluster-based development strategy could deliver measurable and sustainable outcomes. Such an approach, it noted, would improve market access, reduce inefficiencies across the value chain and ensure long-term income growth for farmers in the region.

Reducing post-harvest losses and cutting high marketing and logistics costs were identified as priority areas to enhance farmers’ overall value realisation. Members also stressed the importance of systematically diagnosing bottlenecks at every stage of the value chain and aligning investments accordingly.

Discussions further highlighted the need for a clear, phased roadmap that moves from foundational interventions to complete value chain integration. This would involve developing strategic infrastructure to support export readiness, identifying priority crops for each state and promoting cluster-based development to achieve scale, efficiency and better market alignment.

The Task Force proposed adopting a blueprint-driven model, beginning with the selection of individual products and addressing their end-to-end value chains through well-defined short-, medium- and long-term action plans. These plans would include product-wise targets, investment requirements and timelines.

A key element of the approach would be assessing farmer participation for each commodity across states and evaluating the income benefits on a product- and state-wise basis. The ultimate objective, the Task Force noted, would be to measure tangible improvements in farmers’ incomes following the implementation of these interventions.

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The meeting was attended by Sikkim Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang and Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha, along with agriculture ministers Atul Bora (Assam), Gabriel D. Wangsu (Arunachal Pradesh) and Puran Kumar Gurung (Sikkim).