Export-Oriented Production

Learning: Costa Rica and the Philippines dominate exports by standardising one variety (MD2), enforcing PoPs, and ensuring traceability/certification. Reliable infrastructure (power, labs, nurseries, cold chain) underpins the system.

Relevance: For NE India, outright varietal replacement risks biodiversity loss. Instead, the opportunity is to standardise within local varieties (Queen, Kew) through better nurseries, grading, and Brix-based quality checks — making them competitive without erasing local strengths.

Aggregation + Contract Farming

Learning: Models like Del Monte (contract farming) and Ghana’s farmer cooperatives show how aggregation and forward purchase agreements prevent glut-season price crashes.

Relevance: NE India’s FPCs often lack real aggregation power. Building functional federations with buyer tie-ups could stabilise prices and create consistent supply without forcing farmers into exploitative contracts.