The dream of Arunachal to become horticulture hub seems to be moving in the right direction with the first consignment of oranges from Arunachal being exported to Dubai. The consignment of one metric tonne from the orchards of progressive orange farmer Todol Pertin of Dambuk in Lower Dibang Valley district has been exported to Dubai by the Agricultural & Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA). This has fulfilled the long cherished dream of the people of Arunachal to export horticulture products from state to across the world. A baby step has been taken towards realizing the dream of being exporter.
Arunachal will need several such baby steps to emerge out of the shadow of dependency on centre. One of the main reasons for state being underdeveloped is too much dependency on central fund. Arunachal has failed to attract the private investors and it has affected the revenue generation aspect. Potential revenue generation sectors like horticulture, tourism, hydropower etc have not been properly tapped. Lack of proper policies continues to hamper the progress in these sectors. State government will have to come out with proper long term plan in this regard. Unless Arunachal generate revenue on its own, the fruit of development will continue to elude it.