Nongspung village in East Khasi Hills District of Meghalaya is beginning to garner attention from a number of people from within the state and outside as it is now involved in the farming of an exotic fruit called Kiwi. A fruit which was initially imported from other parts of the state to the markets of Meghalaya is now available roughly 50km from Shillong in this village.
Midalis Lyngdoh is one of the first growers of Kiwi fruit in Nongspung village. Kong Medalis is a 58-year-old single mother with a 20 year old son. She has been growing kiwis since 2011; besides being a kiwi farmer, she is also a primary school teacher in a government school. Her farming story began when her brother Bah Swerding gave her 12 saplings which he acquired from the Mylliem C&RD Block through the Horticulture Department. Kong Medalis planted the saplings on 1386 square metres of land on 12th February, 2011 and since then she has reaped the benefits of what she has sown. The kiwi she plants are of the Hayward (female) and Tomuri (male) species and they take approximately 2 years to grow. Three years of tending to the plants finally showed results and she started selling the fruit in the village itself.
Langih, a locality in Nongspung village under Mawphlang C&RD Block received funding from Meghalaya Basin Development Agency and Basin Developmental Unit (East Khasi Hills) acted as the implementing agency under the Project of Vegetative propagation of Kiwi fruit plantation where they received INR 2, 50,000 on 8th January 2017. The project included the following components:-
• Training and Capacity Building
• Land Development
• Propagation through Vegetative Cultivation
• Micro Irrigation Installation
• Establishment of Labour Room, Pump House etc
The village is located 48km away from Meghalaya's capital town Shillong and 27km away from sub-district Mawphlang. The community people of Nongspung village have been practicing agriculture as their main source of livelihood for generations. They plant variety of potatoes, chillies, local rice and other crops. When the project was introduced in the village, almost every household received training on how to grow kiwi. Kong Medalis Lyngdoh was one of the villagers who received training and he has come a long way since then. Soon after Kong Medalis started Kiwi fruit plantation, her siblings Aldalis and Hording also started growing kiwi. Now the entire family is involved in farming kiwi, even the children have taken up farming and now plant medicinal plants and vegetables too. Bah Carefulstar is the son of Kong Aldalis and has expressed his desire to expand the family business. He is 20- years- old and has a Bachelor’s Degree from Shillong. With the support of his family, he has attended various training programmes in the state in order to further improve the business. In 2016, Kong Medalis along with her siblings decided to build pillars from the iron jars to sit atop for the fruits to grow. Earlier she had used bamboo which had to be replaced every now and then. The building of the pillars cost her INR 1, 15, 000, the cos of which she was able to recover within 3 years. When she first started growing the fruit, she had received no training. The Meghalaya Basin Development Authority (MBDA) approached the village and helped
her attain certain skills. Owing to the training, she has now learnt how to pack the fruits. She has also acquired valuable knowledge on preparation of bio- inputs as well as food processing.
MBDA proved to be of great help to Kong Medalis in providing her with water taps, pipes, baskets, signboards through a financial assistance of INR 30, 000. She also received INR 2,00, 000 in convergence with the Department of Agriculture in order to construct a cold storage unit for fruits.
The fruit ripens from the month of October to December which is also a lean period for other fruits in the Indian market. The fruit can be stored for one month at room temperature and for four to five months in cold storage at 0 degree which will make it possible to be supplied for a long period to the market. In 2017, Kong Midalis anticipated a yield within the range of 800-1000 kg. The family sold the fruits in the village for Rs.150 per kg, Rs.180 for the people from nearby villages and Rs.300 per kg in Shillong markets (Mawlai, Polo and Police Bazar) with complete packaging. Kong Medalis Lyngdoh and her family's vision do not end here. After their gradual progress, they are working even harder to expand and improve their business. Their main objective is
to be able to implement a sustainable and eco-friendly packaging and labelling process and avoid using plastics. They also wish to attain wine processing skills so that they can make use of the left-over Kiwi fruits from their farm.