Guidelines for Agricultural Value Chain Development

A. PRODUCTION SUPPORT
1. INTRODUCTION
Production support under Value Chain component is to further increase marketable volume and
the marketing support will facilitate aggregation, value addition and linkage to outside
markets.The beneficiaries under Value Chain and Market access will be a subset of
beneficiaries under jhum improvement and settled agriculture. Horticulture crops are the key
cash crops in Nagaland in terms of providing employment generation and cash income to the
farmers in the rural areas
A value chain study carried out as part of the project design process has identified a number of
sub-sectors with potential for value chain intervention. These are spices (ginger, Naga King
chilli, coffee and large cardamom). Based on the potential benefits from improving marketing
linkages, the project will initially work on these spices – once dried these are non-perishable,
low volume and high value products that can minimize the cost of transport to distant market.
The project will also support the establishment of small marketing unit housed at the PMU to
provide support on research and policy, marketing intelligence and linkage.

2. OBJECTIVES OF VALUE CHAIN DEVELOPMENT

The main objective of the value chain development is to improve the farm gate prices of the
producers. This objective will be achieved by:
Organising the producers into Value Chain Farmers Group/FPO essentially to achieve the
economies of scale to take up collective marketing.
Eliminating or reducing the role of middlemen and letting the organized producers sell directly
to processors, exporters and terminal markets.
Facilitate integration of producer with larger value chain market systems so that the poor
producers maximize their earnings and remain relevant players in the value chains.
Focusing on creating additional value/income by introducing better production practices,
simple value addition in terms of aggregation, sorting, grading and processing, and collective
marketing.
Capacitating producers on value chain development and marketing
Establishing linkages with potential private players, processors and bulk traders

3. INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENT
The project at district level shall be supervised by District Project Manager who is the District
Agricultural Officer and the district staffs under the project.
The implementation of the value chain crop cluster activity would be by the DMU along with
District PIT incharges in consultation with PIT (Sectoral Technical guide Horticulture) and
under the supervision of the District Project Manager (DPM).
Cluster approach shall be adopted for selected value chain commodities wherein at least four
villages form a cluster, which ensures economies of scale in terms of availability of a minimum
of a truck load of produce for selling.
At village level lead farmer will be the focal person even for value chain crops.
66 clusters are to be formed consisting of about 264 villages covering 3000 ha and 7440
households, 23 clusters for large cardamom, 21 clusters for ginger 6 clusters for Naga King
chilli and 16 clusters for coffee.
The project would buy good quality planting materials from empanelled nurseries, government
farms and nursery and seed villages within and nearby districts and make it available free of
cost to the value chain Farmers.
Project will also utilize lead farmers for transferring knowledge and information related to
technical aspect of crop production.
4. CAPACITY BUILDING
The project will engage Food and Agriculture Organization of United Nations (FAO) to provide
a mix of training and handholding support to key interventions planned under the project.
Training of Master trainers by FAO: the ToMTs are meant for the state level staff and to be
organised at the state level. The training will have a mix of classroom training and field visits
within the state. FAO trainings to cover existing practices followed and identified gaps, better
package of practices and how these practices need to be put into practices, roles of project staff
to oversee implementation of better practices, likely risks and mitigation measures, and a set
of training materials to participants to be used as a reference material during the
implementation phase.
Training of district level, block and circle level officers: trained state team would further
train the team members from district, circle and block level, to be organised at the district level,
by adopting methodologies from the training manual developed by the FAO with a focus on
integrating adult learning methodology that will include pictorial representations, videos, case
studies and role plays. These training materials will be translated into the local language and
printed after its development, to be used as a reference material during the implementation
phase.
Training of Village Level workers: the trained district and circle/block level staff would
further train the village level workers that include village level project staff, lead farmers, who
will provide handholding support to Value chain Farmers during the implementation. Such
training should deliver two-third of content through practical sessions, role plays, videos, case
studies, pictorial representations and field visits, and remaining portion of theoretical sessions.
Participants should also be provided reference materials that they can use during the
implementation phase to support Value Chain Farmers.
Capacity building support shall be provided through trainings and demonstrations which
should be based on the needs of commodity clusters and community members engaged in it.
Generalise and commodity wise technical training, and business and marketing training module
should be developed. Integrating indigenous traditional knowledge and practices is critical for
better acceptability. Advance skills modules on business management and entrepreneurship
should be planned for members already having basic skills.
5. TRAINING PROGRAMMES TO BE CONDUCTED BY FOCUS
The District team, consisting primarily of village and Block level staffs shall be responsible for
conducting training in the villages. The team shall make a village visit plan, inform village
council and villagers in advance about the pre-scheduled meeting dates in the villages. In the
village training of Value Chain Farmers, the project team needs to share objectives of the
project, roles and responsibility of Value Chain Farmers, project support. The project team
needs to clarify the doubts or expectations the villagers may have. Lectures and discussions
should be conducted regarding the purpose and role of clusters, market access and Value Chain
Development. The village meetings should be moderated in such a manner that villagers’
expectations are managed within the project mandate.
District and circle/block level officers would train the lead farmers in technical aspects related
to good package of practices for selected and other major crops, and plant disease identification
and solutions. These trainings would be organised at the district level in local language and
would have a mix of class room training and field visits. Lead Farmers would also be provided
with reference materials that they can use for transferring knowledge and extending technical
support to value chain farmers.
Project shall adopt cluster approach for select value chain commodities wherein at least four
villages form a cluster, which ensures economies of scale attractive enough for marketing
players to get into business partnership with the commodity farmers. The clusters / villages will
be selected based on suitability (soil, climate, water, etc) by PMU in consultationwith the
Directorate of Horticulture and Directorate of Land Resource Department, Nagaland and based
on participating farmers’ interest and ability to invest in labour to ensure establishment of the
selected crops. Cluster ensures that collective procurement of agriculture inputs and business
development services i.e. transportation and logistics services, become economical for farmers.
Clusters shall be developed around strategically located villages with comparative advantages
in terms of presence of motorable road and transportation access and banking services.
District PIT incharge with DMU project staffs, sub divisional Agriculture staff/ Block ATMA
representative along with DHO/PD LRD and his/her team shall be responsible for undertaking
participatory cluster planning exercise in villages. One cluster will have four (4) nearby villages
for better monitoring and management. Therefore, area-based commodity clusters, for ensuring
economies of scale; need to be identified under the project.
6. VALUE CHAIN DEVELOPMENT TARGET/PLANS
Value Chain
Value Chain Cluster and Farmer Farmers
Area (Ha) Project support
commodity villages households Group to be
formed
Large
66 clusters 920 1840 92 Value Chain
Cardamom
and 264 Farmers Group
Naga King villages formation
480 960 24
Chilli
 240 480 12 Planting
Ginger materials
720 2880 72
Package to
Coffee 640 1280 64 practices
Technical
support
Total 3000 7440 264
Marketing
support

Other major Marketing

Need based as emerged during the implementation phase
crops, if any support

7. FORMATION OF VALUE CHAIN COMMODITY INTEREST GROUP

1. Commodity Interest Group consisting of farmers who are to practice cultivation of
value chain crops and with common interest of large scale production and marketing
shall be formed commodity wise by staffs at village and circle level.
2. One Value Chain Farmers Group can have a maximum of 40 members.
3. Each village will have (1) oneValue Chain Farmers Group.
4. Maximum members for Value Chain Farmers Groups per village should be 40
members/beneficiary for ginger and King chilli and Maximum of 20 members for Large
cardamom and coffee.
5. Value Chain Farmers Group would be introduced to innovative model of
sustainable/good agriculture practices
6. Project would also facilitate, keeping in mind the needs of value chain farmers, a
number of marketing interventions such as buyer seller meets, market exposure visits,
participation in trade fairs and exhibition, linkage with market players. For better reach,
event Point of Sale Materials (POSMs), marketing communications will also be
created.

7. PRODUCTION SUPPORT FOR VALUE CHAIN FARMERS GROUPS (VGFG)

1. Each household/member of Value Chain Farmerwould get a production support of 0.5
ha area of the value chain crops of large cardamom, king chilly and coffee.
2. Each household/member of Value Chain Farmerwould get a production support of 0.25
ha area of the value chain crop of ginger. (For ginger during 20-21 the project has
supported 3 clusters with 0.5 ha area production support for each household as per
initial design)
3. Each village would get 10 ha production support for ginger, large cardamom, coffee
and 20 Ha support for Naga King chilly. (for ginger during 20-21 the project has
supported 3 clusters with 20 ha production support for each village as per initial design)
 4. Each Cluster would get 40 ha production support for ginger, large cardamom and coffee
and 80 ha support for naga king chilli. (For ginger during 20-21 the project has
supported 3 ginger clusters with 80 ha each).
5. The production support for ginger is reduced from 0.5 ha to 0.25, as the farmers are
apprehensive of marketing and wants to cultivate in a smaller area of land

8. UNIT COST/Household GUIDE FOR THE VALUE CHAIN CROPS

a. NAGA KING CHILLI(support for 0.5 ha)
Sl. Items/Activity Unit Rate Quantity Amount
No. (kg) (Rs)
1 2 3 4 5 6
A Cost of crucial inputs
Househol Rs
Cost of Seeds 0.125 kg 6250.00
d 50000/kg
Trichoderma for seed treatment
(to be obtained from BIO
Househol Rs
control Laboratory 250 gm 50.00
d 200/Kg
Medziphema, Govt. of
Nagaland)
Bio fertilizer (
azotobacter&Phosphotica) for
seedling dip (to be obtained Househol
Rs 50/Kg 1 kg each 100
from Biofertilizer Laboratory d
Medziphema, Dept of
Agriculture, Govt. of Nagaland
Househol
Transportation cost LS LS 350
d
Sub-Total of A 6,750.00
B Cost of Field Operations
Inter-cultural Operations
LS LS LS 750.00
(Beneficiary contribution)
Sub-Total of B 7,50.00
Sub-Total of A + B 7,500.00
Total Cost to be borne by the Project = Rs 6,750.00
Beneficiary Contribution = Rs 7,50
b. LARGE CARDAMOM (support for 0.5 ha)
Sl.No. Items/Activity Unit Rate Quantity Amount (Rs)
A Cost of crucial
inputs
Cost of Seedling Household Rs 5/ seedling 2000 nos 10,000.00
 Pseudomonas
fluorescence for
seedling/sucker
treatment (to be
Household Rs 300/ kg 1 kg 300.00
obtained from BIO
control Laboratory
Medziphema, Govt.
of Nagaland )
Transportation Cost Household LS 1 each 950
Sub-Total of A 11,250.00
B Cost of Field
Operations
Inter-cultural
Operations 1,250.00
LS LS LS
(Beneficiary
contribution)
Sub-Total of B 1,250.00
Sub-Total of A + B 12,500.00

Total Cost to be borne by the Project = Rs 11,250.00

Beneficiary Contribution = Rs 1,250.0

c. GINGER (support for 0.25 ha)

Sl. No. Items/Activity Unit Rate Quantity Amount (Rs)
(kg)
A Cost of crucial
inputs
Cost of Seeds Household Rs 50/kg 332.5 16625.00
Transportation cost Household Rs 200/ kg 1 250.00
Sub-Total of A 16,875.00
B Cost of Field
Operations
Inter-cultural
Operations
LS LS LS 1875.00
Beneficiary
contribution)
Sub-Total of B 1,875.00
Sub-Total of A + B 18,750.00

Total Cost to be borne by the Project = Rs 16,875.00

Beneficiary Contribution = Rs 1,875.00
 d. COFFEE (support for 0.5 ha)
Sl.No. Items/Activity Unit Rate Quantity Amount (Rs)
1
A Cost of crucial inputs

Rs10/
Cost of Seedling Household seedling 1000 nos 10,000.00
Organic Inputs
Household LS LS 2700

Transportation Cost Household LS 1 each 800

Sub-Total of A 13,500.00
B Cost of Field
Operations
Inter-cultural
Operations
(Beneficiary
contribution) LS LS LS 1,500.00
Sub-Total of B 1,500.00
Sub-Total of A + B 15,000.00

Total Cost to be borne by the Project = Rs 13,500.00

Beneficiary Contribution = Rs 1,500.0

9. PROCUREMENT AND FUND

I. Value Chain Farmers Group Plans For Planting and Budget Planning for
Procurement of Planting Materials with Project Support
Proper business planning is key to minimising market risks and making right marketing
decisions. This has been done in collaboration with FAO under TCP, who will have a systematic
study of the value chain clusters. District PIT incharge with DMU project staffs & technical
department, in collaboration with communities, would undertake a participatory advance
planning for site selection and within couple of weeks of sowing prepare commodity-wise area
under production and estimated production quantity. This would provide sufficient time to
identify interested market players, discuss terms of trade, plan logistics, and post-harvest
management.
Each Value Chain Farmer shall select beneficiaries and according to the number of
beneficiaries and land/resource availability, each Value Chain Farmers Group from each district
must plan for the procurement of planting materials. This must be approved by the DMU and
submitted to the PMU who upon approval by IFAD, PMU shall either procure the planting
materials and supply to the farmers or release funds to the community for procurement by the
community observing Community procurement procedures

II. Procedures For Value Chain Farmers Group/DHO To Procure Planting Materials,
Distribute To Members And Complete Planting
a. Procurement is to be done as per applicable procurement procedure contained in IFAD
procurement Handbook or community participatory procurement by the DMU in
consultation with the Procurement Specialist PMU, the Community, Sectoral Technical
guide Horticulture/Agriculture.
b. Procurement of planting materials will be per budget plans.
c. District PIT incharge& DMU Project staffs should be present during the procurement
and shall be responsible for supervising the procedure, the planting materials and its
distribution.
d. Distribution of planting materials shall be as per approved plans from each Value Chain
Farmers Group.
e. Each Value Chain Farmers Group member/beneficiary is responsible for completion of
planting as allotted by the Value Chain Farmers Group.
f. District Project Manager/Block Level Field Coordinator may provide necessary
assistance if necessity arises.

10. EXPECTED PROJECT BENEFITS

 Development of a commercially & economically viable marketing structure for
production and supply of spices (ginger, large cardamom, coffee and chilli).
 Increased farmers’ income providing a perpetual source of income through farming.
 Promotion of locally produced agricultural products.
 Social benefits and economic upliftment of rural livelihood.

B. MARKETING SUPPORT
1. Establishment of a Marketing Unit: The major constraints to value chain development of
traditional spice, and agricultural and horticultural crops are related to marketing. They include:
(i) limited or no aggregation for achieving economies of scale required for cost effective
collection, transportation and storage; (ii) insufficient investment in post-harvest management
practices, including primary processing to add value and to reduce volume for transportation;
(iii) inadequate data on marketable quantity to feed into supply chain, (iv) inadequate linkage
with premium markets on account of issues related to compliance of certification and quality
standards; and (v) limited access to market players from outside Nagaland.
The project’s marketing efforts will be directed not only towards the commodities/crops that
will be promoted in a value chain mode but also other commodities and crops promoted under
jhum improvement and settled agriculture that offer economies of scale for market entry to be
viable.
The project shall establish a marketing unit to be housed in the PMU and manned by competent
staffs. This unit will produce market intelligence reports, conduct (or commission) market
studies and policy reforms required, market linkage with prospective internal and external
buyers to market of agriculture and horticulture produce. This will enable the line departments
plan production based on market intelligence and inputs from the marketing section. In
addition, this unit will act as focal point to identify market linkage partners and to facilitate
market support activities of the project.
Project shall hire following qualified and competent staffs to manage and extend marketing
support to interventions planned under the project:
Manager- Market Intelligence (72 person-months): The expert shall have a master‘s degree
in marketing, business administration, economics or related field, and at least 10 years of
experience in market intelligence for commercial or social marketing/enterprises, collection
centres and processing units. He should have experience of identifying and establishing
contacts with market players for commodity prices and market information and linkages.
Manager- Market Policy and Research (72 person-months): The expert shall have a
master‘s degree in business, marketing, statistics, policy research, social sciences or related
discipline, and at least 10 years of experience in livelihoods and development projects, study
market (domestic and international) trends and knowledge of and experience in interpreting
and using qualitative and/or quantitative research to propose evidence-based strategies.
Manager- Market Linkage (72 person-months): The expert shall have a master‘s degree in
marketing, business administration or related field, and at least 10 years of experience in
commercial or social marketing/enterprises and agriculture and livestock value chain
development in project states, north east region, or hilly regions. He should have experience of
training, multi-stakeholders‘ management, and establishing market linkages for
microenterprises of community institutions such as VCFG (Value Chain Farmers
Group)/SHGs/Cooperatives/FPOs.
Marketing Assistants: Project shall hire marketing assistants with relevant qualifications
(master/graduate degree in business, marketing, statistics, research, social sciences or related
discipline) and minimum 5 years of experience to provide assistance to efforts of Managers in
rolling out marketing support implementation in project districts.
The key roles and responsibilities to be performed by marketing section staffs include (but not
limited to):
Marketing staff Key roles and responsibilities
tobeplaced
Manager - Market  Commission need based specific market studies during the
Intelligence project implementation.
 Identify sources and contacts for regular collection of
commodity prices at state, regional, national and
international level.
 Identify reliable reports and sources that regularly undertake
market projection studies for project specific commodities.
 Identify state, regional and national level fairs and
exhibitions, places for market exposure visits, buyer seller
meets, trainings/workshops etc. that project can participate.
 Conduct visits to project locations to provide guidance and
advisory support in close coordination with district staffs.
 Work in close coordination with Manager-Market Policy and
Research and Manager-Intelligence.
Manager - Market  List out and analyse all major policies in the state including
Policy & Research CSS related to select value chain crops.
 List out and analyse all major policies related to marketing
infrastructure
i.e. common facility centres.
 List out all existing marketing infrastructures in project
districts and in the state for possible convergence.
 Analyse supply and demand data (state, regional, national
and international) for major crops
 Research and analyse all market information as requested by
Manager- Market Linkage
 Work in close coordination with Manager-Market Linkage
and Manager- Intelligence
Manager - Market  Prepare commodity wise seasonal calendar of marketable
Linkage commodities capturing preproduction, production and
harvesting phases.
 List out all major market’s players (traders, processors,
corporate) for value chain crops and other major crops,
operating currently in the state.
 Establish contact with market players and initiate discussions
for establishing market linkages.
 Finalise terms of procurement from farmers and supply to
market players.
  Overview timely construction of marketing infrastructure
i.e., collection centres
 Facilitate participation of commodity groups in trade fairs
and exhibitions, market exposure visits, buyer seller meets,
trainings/workshops etc.
 Conduct visits to project locations to provide guidance and
advisory support in close coordination with district staffs.
 Work in close coordination with Manager- Market
Intelligence and Manager – Market Policy and Research.

MarketingAssistants  Work under the overall guidance of three managers and

provide need-based support to facilitate smooth execution of
marketing interventions.

Facilities and infrastructure for the marketing unit: Marketing section will have requisite
facilities and infrastructure such as office space, computer sets with internet facility, furniture,
printer, provision of vehicles, and resources to support marketing interventions under the
project such as buyer-seller meets, training of project staffs, meetings and workshops,
participation in trade fairs and exhibitions, and undertaking need-based sector studies.

2. Market/Product Promotion:
Inorder to create awareness and promote our produce and the whole ecosystem of agribusiness
to our farmers and the citizens alike, promotion can be carried out in the form of events,
communication, capacity building etc.
Communication promotions can be carried outin platforms like social media, messaging &
video calling apps, events etc. We also need to procure some of our produce as samples to be
given out to prospective buyers e.g., packaged dried ginger, Naga king chilly etc. along with
communication samples like display samples, acrylic tent card, standees, easel stand to be used
during our participation and organising events.
i) Market Exposure Visits
Objective: To let our farmers understand the market ecosystem (Dynamics, trade practice,
buyer seller -behaviour, market infrastructure, linkages, etc.)
Task: Marketing team to identify and list out relevant markets at state, regional and national
level related to value chain commodity (ginger, large cardamom, coffee and chilly)
Participants from the Project: lead farmers, value chain Value Chain Farmers Group/FPO
and Marketing team
Post visit: Disseminate the learning to all value chain Value Chain Farmers Group/FPOs and
list out few actionable points agreed, if any
Expected outcome:
1. Will help adopt practical marketing principles in order to promote market led
production support
2. Easier to convince community members about marketing interventions proposed and
planned
3. Will help gain understanding of use of marketing infrastructure
ii) Buyer-Seller Meets
Objective: To bring potential market players from outside the state and expose them to
commodities from the state and convert it to leads
Task: Marketing team will prepare list of potential market players (processors, aggregators,
exporters) to be invited to participate in buyer-seller meets or associate with other agencies
who have experience in organizing similar events in the past (Spice Board India, Guwahati
Spice Development Agency and APEDA)
Participants: State level market players, outside corporate agencies already operating in the
state, new aggregators, processors and exporters from outside the state.
Post Event:To convert/nurture the leads
Expected outcome:
1. Explore direct markets outside the state
2. Learn expectations of buyers for commodities produced in the state, expected volumes,
negotiate prices and terms of partnership.
3. The buyers will get an opportunity to discuss directly with the producers, learn about
commodity uniqueness and explore direct linkage possibilities.
4. Opportunity for building contract farming arrangements.
Note: Project team also needs to participate in similar buyer seller meets organised by other
agencies in the region.
iii) Participation in Trade Fairs and Exhibitions
Objective: To display and market various commodities supported under the project
Task: Marketing team will identify and prepare a yearly calendar of events where project
beneficiaries can participate, and facilitate participation
Participants: Community institutions (FIGs/Cooperatives/FPCs)
Post Event: Project staffs, together with related community, to discuss the learning and
impacts, and integrate the same while participating in all future events.
Expected Outcome:
1. Meet and interact with industry partners and customers
2. Study activities of rivals, and examine recent market trends and opportunities.
3. An opportunity to sell directly to end consumers, assess their feedback for making
product improvement, learn about their expectation to buy products on regular basis.
 4. Improve direct selling and communication skills of producers

VALUE ADDITION
1. Organic certifications
Project team, based on market and stakeholders‘analysis, may decide to promote or advocate
organic certification that can be carried out by farmers group like FPOs. The groups can
apply for PGS (Participatory Guarantee System) or other certification required by the market
players (buyers.)
2. Common facility centers
For simple value addition, access will be provided in the form of linkages to existing
aggregation centers, Marketing sheds and innovative storage provisions for better price and
to reduce distress selling.
a) The innovative storage provisions will be provided to project villages that have excess
produce at strategic locations. The day to day management will be done by Farmers
Organisation of the villages where it is set up.
b) To provide a better marketable and fixed platform for our farmers and vendors to sell the
agricultural products in the surrounding area, marketing sheds will be created in strategic
locations after surveying the area and market potential.
3. Contract farming
The process of Contract Farming in rural economy is a new concept and has been made
legal after the amendment of the APMC Act at State levels. The concept was largely adopted
across assortment of crops, regions and firms. The process of contract farming involves
cultivating and harvesting for and on behalf of big business establishments (TATA, Reliance,
ITC and PepsiCo) or Government agencies and forwarding the produce at a pre-determined
price. In return, the contracted farmers are offered guarantee to purchase its produce.
The marketing section will analyse all market interests and explore the possibility of
entering into contract farming arrangements. Collaboration with a consultancy to help
identify and understand the market potential of the state can be carried out to help the
marketing team widen its scope of opportunities and impart its knowledge and experience.
If the farmers agreed to a contract form of farming process, transaction etc. a bipartite
agreement (MOA/MOU) will be signed between the farmers group /FPO and corporate
(buyer) in the presence of FOCUS Nagaland.

4. Non – Land Farm Activity

During 2021, the state experienced a moderate drought situation and the project would promote
low-cost mushroom cultivation units (Oyster Mushroom), mainly targeting the women and
youths of the project villages. The project intent to intervene in mushroom cultivation with the
use of the paddy straw as raw material from the farmer’s field and generate additional income
for the beneficiaries. The project targets to implement 300 units of low-cost mushroom
cultivation. The beneficiaries would be given training and demonstration in collaboration with
the department of Horticulture.

5. FORMATION OF FPO
The performing Value Chain Farmers Groupwill be formed into FPOs commodity wise on
the basis of their value chain produce, which can be from a cluster or nearby clusters within
the district. The project with the help of the service provider will support them in the
formation and capacity building of the members. The project will also emphasize on
inclusion of youth and women groups. Basis the need and market survey, the group will
also be shouldered the task to operate the Aggregation and storage centers.

6. ESTABLISH MARKETING LINKAGES

Market and market tie ups for value chain products and value addition can be done through tie
ups with Societies / organization, market players within and outside the states dealing with
commodities that encompass crops and products under the value chain crops under the project.
Clusters for Value chains shall be provided with access to Aggregation Centres/Marketing
sheds in selected locations where farmers from different villages shall bring their products.
Farmers from different villages can bring their produce from their villages to the Aggregation
Centre, here; links can be made for export/out source of their products. Entrepreneurs and
organizations dealing with such products from within or outside the state who can accept both
partially processed and raw products can be identified. Such organizations/entrepreneur can be
linked for market tie-ups and other marketing purpose with an MOA/MOU signed between the
buyer and the farmers group /FPO in the presence of FOCUS Nagaland. (New content)

C. INNOVATION FUND
Several societies, association, cooperatives, Public Sector Organisation, producer companies,
local Agro-enterprise and innovators operate in the state. These agencies and individuals
operate in an environment of limited scale, inadequate capital and inability to upscale in terms
of technology, manpower, and reach. This apart, in order to realise the potential of the
agricultural and allied sectors, a higher scale of operations is required to enter external markets
on competitive terms and/or fetch a premium price for products produced in Nagaland. The
project ‘s value chain support will facilitate expansion of production and marketing, and is
envisaged to generate a new set of entrepreneurs with market linkages.Also, some local young
entrepreneurs have business ideas to start small scale businesses but lack technical and
managerial skills. Limited entrepreneurship and marketing opportunities coupled with low
volume high cost of transport and limited risk-taking ability constrain agri-business
development in the state. The Innovation Fund is envisaged to overcome these constraints by
supporting potential agencies who can offer innovative solutions to project target communities.
Innovation Fund aims to provide sustainability to economic activities of Value Chain Farmers
Group/FPOs supported with project interventions by inviting private sector players to foster
partnership with local communities. Project support to potential local and private enterprises is
likely to ensure long term sustainability of agribusiness enterprises of target communities even
after the project completion. Innovation Fund would encourage and provide opportunity to
local entrepreneurship to flourish and prosper, promoting entrepreneurial culture in the state, a
key requirement to enhance income opportunities for target community. Private sector would
bring entrepreneurial knowledge, marketing and management skills, business leadership, that
in turn would help in its transfer to local community. It would also provide marketing
opportunity of local products to outside markets.
In order to support these interventions, the project will establish a fund and seek proposals from
interested agencies and provide funding based on a detailed business plan and agreed outcomes.
This support will be available to legally registered and tax compliant local agencies that have
already implemented innovative interventions requiring scale up support with demonstrated
ability to bring own funds to part finance the proposal. The project will prioritize the needs of
youth while approving sub-projects funded by the Innovation Fund. Sub-projects of youth
taking up enterprise related to aggregation and value addition will be funded on a priority and
capacity building aspects will be built into this. In addition, the project will actively identify
agencies that have capacity to submit sub- projects that train youth in specific vocations and
provide funding for enterprise establishment coupled with technical backstopping. Such
agencies will be funded using Innovation Fund. The operational details of the Innovation Fund
is provided in Annex 12.2