The MP was inaugurating the 5th Kachai Lemon Festival organised by the Department of Horticulture and Soil Conservation in collaboration with the Kachai Food Farming and Processing Cooperative Society.
The Lok Sabha MP said the lemon found in Kachai and surrounding villages about 140 km from Imphal and 50 km from the Ukhrul district headquarter, is unique and found nowhere else in the world. In terms of succulence it is also the best, he said.
He said such a good horticultural produce was going waste all these years because of bad road transport infrastructure. In view of this, he said there is already a proposal to modernise the link roads to Kachai under the Prime Minister Gram Sevak Yojana, PMSGY.
Giving a brief history of the Kachai lemon at the function, Ukhrul district DSO, A.H. Ningami said in 1944-45, the late S Paishen brought some seeds of Cirus Ombirilus strain of lemon and planted them in Kachai village. The Kachai soil it seems was well suited and the plants fructified in good time.
From Kachai, it also spread to other villages in the vicinity and this is how the area came to be so richly endowed with the fruit, he said.
He urged the thousands of growers who assembled at the festival never to abandon the fruit for other crops and make it survive.
The festival has been growing in leaps and bounds and from the mere 28 stalls in the first Kachai Lemon Festival, there were 253 this year although of these only 176 could display their produces.
The producers of the best crop were also awarded with cash prizes ranging from Rs. 5000 to Rs. 3000. The chief guest, Mani Cheranamei distributed these prizes.
Apart from important civil administrators and police of the district, village chiefs and other public leaders attended the festival opening ceremony.