Charity sale eases Razeba cabbage crisis in Nagaland, but farmers demand long-term market reforms

Kohima, July 16: A charity sale of cabbage from Nagaland’s Razeba Range brought temporary relief to distressed farmers on Wednesday, even as growers and agricultural stakeholders accused the state government of failing to address recurring market failures that leave farmers with unsold produce year after year.

The sale, organised by The Entrepreneurs Associates (tEA) at Old NST Junction and Post Office Junction in Kohima, was inaugurated by Horticulture and Women Resource Development Minister Salhoutuonuo Kruse.

Speaking at the event, the minister highlighted the need to strengthen direct market linkages for farmers and said community-led initiatives play an important role in reducing post-harvest losses and sustaining rural livelihoods.

The charity drive followed widespread public concern over the plight of cabbage growers in Razeba, who were forced to watch their harvest remain unsold due to a lack of buyers. Individuals, civil society organisations and government departments joined the campaign, helping farmers clear part of their stock.

Earlier, the Nagaland State Agricultural Marketing Board (NSAMB) also stepped in by purchasing large quantities of cabbage from Razeba farmers and transporting the produce to Dimapur, Jalukie and Wokha for distribution.

While expressing gratitude for the support, farmers and village leaders said one-time interventions cannot substitute for a robust agricultural marketing system.

Calling the latest crisis a “policy failure”, stakeholders said the government must move beyond ad hoc relief measures and invest in long-term solutions such as organised market networks, cold storage facilities, aggregation centres and better transport infrastructure.

“This is not an isolated incident,” they said, pointing to similar crises faced by ginger growers, tomato farmers in Longkhum, cucumber cultivators in Aliba village, and vegetable producers in Wokha, where crops have repeatedly gone unsold due to poor market access.
They also questioned why locally grown vegetables often rot in the fields while produce imported from other states continues to dominate Nagaland’s markets.

The recurring glut, they argued, underscores the urgent need for a comprehensive agricultural marketing policy that connects farmers to buyers, reduces post-harvest losses and ensures fair returns for producers.

With agriculture remaining the backbone of Nagaland’s rural economy, farmers say the Razeba cabbage crisis should serve as a wake-up call for the government to build a sustainable farm-to-market ecosystem instead of relying on periodic charity sales.

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