Guwahati, May 1: A parliamentary panel has asked the DoNER ministry to help the North Eastern Regional Agricultural Marketing Corporation Limited (Neramac) to help realise the agri-horti potential of the region.

The parliamentary standing committee on home affairs, in its report placed in the current session of Parliament, said Neramac, which is supposed to create all that is lacking in promoting agro-horti products of the Northeast, has failed in its mandate.

"However, the DoNER ministry cannot run away from sharing the responsibility in the failure. The committee therefore recommends with all its might to the ministry to not only empower and strengthen Neramac to function to its expectations for the betterment of the region in terms of creating marketing avenues for the products but also rope in other ministries/departments and the North Eastern Council to help the region to realise its full potential in agro-horti industries," the report says.

The committee, while examining the detailed demands for grants 2016-17, found that there are no budgetary allocations either under the plan or non-plan head to Neramac.

Even trading turnover data or earnings from the processing done by Neramac do not indicate surpluses or profits.

The committee had earlier recommended an early establishment of proposed e-auction centres throughout the region in the Northeast, along with a centralised e-auction system with a view to ensure better and timely returns for the producers. It had also recommended that Neramac should put its act together to revive defunct food-processing units in the region with better equipment, technical knowhow and affordable finance. "We are disappointed to note that no action has been taken on the ground and it will be an opportunity lost if early action is not taken. The committee recommends to the ministry to take appropriate action and provide adequate support to Neramac in order to achieve the objectives.

The mandate of Neramac is procurement and marketing of agro-horticulture produces like ginger, orange, pineapple, kiwi, turmeric, large cardamom, hill grass and bay leaves from the Northeast.

The committee said Neramac has been incurring losses. The techno-economic viability report to revive it has been conducted by NEDFi, giving a detailed plan, which includes amendments in the mandate and governance structure, business strategy for short term as well as medium and long-term strategies for human resource management and resource requirement.

The DoNER ministry informed the committee that problems such as lack of effective processing industries in the region, geographical isolation involving high transport costs on materials and final product, inadequate working capital, poor marketing strategies with an absence of marketing networks, lack of market intelligence, absence of sales promotion and inability to compete with established brand names owing to comparatively lower and uncertain quality are hindering the development of agri-horticultural potential of the region.