Meghalaya launches Rs 175.45 crore ‘Mission Golden Spice’

Guwahati: Meghalaya’s agricultural sector marked a historic milestone, with the launch of Mission Golden Spice: Integrated Lakadong Turmeric Value Chain Enhancement Project.

Held at Sanchar Bhavan in New Delhi, the launch underscores a progressive step toward establishing Meghalaya as the global home of premium, organic, GI-tagged Lakadong turmeric.

Meghalaya is reimagining agriculture, shifting away from subsistence farming toward a high-value, entrepreneurship-led ecosystem. Driven by its pioneering Community-Public-Private Partnership (CPPP) model, the State is ensuring that local farmers, particularly the women who form the backbone of the agrarian economy transition from raw commodity producers to active owners of processing facilities and global brands. This mission underscores a strategic leap to keep greater economic value within the State by investing heavily in aggregation, cutting-edge processing, and international market access.


Addressing the gathering on what he termed a “golden day as we launch Mission Golden Spice”, Jyotiraditya M. Scindia, Union Minister, MDONER highlighted the systemic and seismic change Narendra Modi, Prime Minister has brought over the last twelve years in ‘Ashtalakshmi’, ensuring the region has become the centre of India's development paradigm rather than its periphery.

Outlining a massive Rs 175 crore collaborative investment aimed at doubling farmer remuneration and tripling the cultivation area by 2030, he stated, “Today we are launching a transformational programme across Meghalaya to take this golden spice across the world.” He championed the initiative as a hallmark of true women-led development, saluting the 17,500 local growers, 99 percent of whom are women.

Acknowledging the crop's exceptionally high curcumin content of 7 to 12 percent, he remarked that “there is something magical about Meghalaya's soil.” Emphasizing the State's rightful ownership of the crop, he declared, “We want the world to know, we want the world to recognize that the pioneer and the capital of Lakadong turmeric is our state of Meghalaya”,

Highlighting the global momentum already underway, he proudly noted that the Prime Minister has sent a strong message by presenting the Lakadong turmeric at the G7 Summit and sharing its high demand during cabinet discussions, cementing Meghalaya’s agricultural excellence on the world stage.

Conrad K. Sangma Chief Minister of Meghalaya underscored a strategic shift driven by the DoNER Ministry towards a highly focused, end-to-end ecosystem approach, which is now being replicated for agriculture through a Mission Mode Programme across all North Eastern states. He added that for Meghalaya, this focus falls on Lakadong Turmeric, which he described as being “very unique to Meghalaya” and “truly the golden product”. Expressing profound gratitude to Prime Minister for his attention to the region, he stated that “this mission could not have come at a more correct time.”

He further detailed the State's rigorous work in “micro-detailing,” ensuring that farmer organizations have access to collateral-free working capital by removing traditional banking hurdles. Noting that this area-specific strategy of value addition is already scaling to other regional crops like pineapples, ginger, jackfruit, honey, and mushrooms, he highlighted that these interventions are transforming the livelihoods of thousands of women entrepreneurs across the State. Summarizing this approach, he stated, “We are just simply not trying to do new things, but we are just simply making things better by providing the technology, the financial support.”

The project exemplifies exceptional Centre-State synergy to elevate the region's agricultural output. The Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (MDONER) and the North Eastern Council (NEC) are contributing 50% (Rs 87.62 crore) of the funding to build the vital physical infrastructure. MDONER has already sanctioned Rs 43.24 crore for Phase 1 of the project. Simultaneously, the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare will provide 33.1% (Rs 58.10 crore) to boost production and organic certification, while the Government of Meghalaya’s 16.9% share (Rs 29.73 crore) will be focused on branding, FPO working capital, and blockchain traceability for GI protection and export systems.

Timothy D. Shira, Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Meghalaya, outlined the State's vision to transform its GI-tagged Lakadong turmeric into a globally competitive, export-oriented, and women-led enterprise. Expressing gratitude for the support of the Ministry of DoNER and highlighting the Chief Minister’s progressive agricultural vision, he detailed the mission's goal to expand cultivation to 7,000 hectares by 2030, which will benefit over 17,500 farmers and generate 3,000 new livelihoods. Central to this initiative is the establishment of the North East's largest organic turmeric processing and curcumin extraction facility, will emerge as a strategic investment designed to empower local farmers.

Dr. Vijay Kumar D Commissioner and Secretary, Government of Meghalaya, expressed gratitude to the union DoNER minister for his strategic direction in designing and approving the comprehensive, multi-sectoral Lakadong turmeric initiative. He also commended the Chief Minister for driving the nation's most robust agricultural value chain program, which currently supports nearly one lakh farming households across various crop sectors in the State. Acknowledging essential partners for their roles, he concluded by honouring the local women farmers as the foundational producers of the spice and assured the leadership that the departments will work to guarantee the mission's total success.