Fruit Wines of Meghalaya: A Sustainable Approach for Rural Livelihoods

Sustainability signifies a condition based on the principles of sustainable development, taking full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts taking the stakeholders’ needs, benefits, and interests into consideration. The Government of India, of late, has realized what rural India can offer to the world. The Tenth Five Year Plan has identified tourism as one of the major sources for generating employment and promoting sustainable livelihoods. The concept of sustainable rural livelihood is the enhancement of multiple opportunities so that the local community can avail of the scope for income and employment generation through sustainable tourism practices. Meghalaya is a state blessed with a variety of agrobiodiversity and vivid climatic conditions which favours the cultivation of different types of horticultural products like fruits, vegetables, flowers, etc. Meghalaya also has so many indigenous species of fruit plants that may not be found anywhere else in the country. The horticultural wealth of the state in terms of fruits includes peach, plum, pear, pineapple, banana, jackfruit, sohpieh, sohiong (black cherry), sohsang, sohphoh, sohlang, sohbrap (pasion fruit), sohmon, etc. Fruit wines in Meghalaya will have a niche market at its best, where the excess quantity of fruit abundant in the areas can be processed. This study aims to highlight the relationship between local fruit wine and sustainable rural livelihood in Meghalaya. The paper is based on qualitative research techniques where an exploratory research approach has been applied.