Kachai Village

Kachai Village is one of the most scenic village in Ukhrul District. It has a total of 510 houses with 2107 population of which 1092 male and 1015 female.  The average sex ratio of the village is 838 female per 1000 male. The village is home to people of Tangkhul Naga tribe. The inhabitants are 1005 christain. Agriculture is the primary occupation of the inhabitants. Kachai Village is around 140 Kms from Imphal and 46 km approx. from Ukhrul district headquarters. It is located in the extreme west of Ukhrul district bordering Senapati district, Manipur. Kachai is flanked by by Hoomi village in the east, Theiva in the north (Senapati District), Tingshong (Senapati District)  in the west and L.Phungthar in the south.  Kachai village can be reached via Talui-Hoomi-Kachai which is connected by Talui-Hoomi-tadubi road (NH-102/A).

Kachai village is known for the Kachai Lemon popularly known as Kachai Champra (Lemon) which is widely grown in the village. Now it is spreading to the nearby villages and also grown in Hoomi, Phungthar, Tora, Maichon and Theiva village.

Kachai village is blessed with a sub-tropical climate with a thick fog/mist in the morning which appears from the month of December to January till 10:00 AM, which naturally waters the lemon plants. This fog/mist is also  an important factor that makes the Kachai Lemon unique. Unlike the other lemon varieties grown in other part of the India , Kachai Lemon is considered to be unique as it contains 51 percent ascorbic acid, the highest so far available in the realm of Citrus fruits while other Lemon varieties have only 20 to 30 percent of ascorbic acid. The juice content is 36-56 ml per fruit. The fruit bearing plants of Kachai Lemon look like flowering trees during harvesting time, simply beautiful, colorful and attractive to everyone.

The Kachai Lemon is the pride of Manipur, because of its uniqueness the Kachai Lemon has been accorded geographical indication (GI) registration.(GI-466).

Kachai Lemon Festival is celebrated every year in the second week of January. With the celebration of this festival Kachai Lemon has gain popularity and has created a premium value in the market and a boost to the Kachai lemon growers. The Kachai Fruit Farming & Co-operative Society Ltd. in the beginning had passed a resolution and has made it compulsory to all the villagers to plant at least fifty(50) lemon tree saplings in their backyard garden. The benefits of which the villagers are now reaping. The present society members also realizing the potential is also promoting lemon plantation with a missionary zeal amongst the youths and farmers of neighboring villages of Senapati and Ukhrul district and Kachai village in particular.

The main purpose of organizing this festival is to give incentives and encouragement to the lemon growers and other farmers by giving them platform where they can interact with scientists and experts and have seller and buyers’ meet. This festival also provides market for other agricultural and horticultural crops/products thus generating extra income for the farmers.

At present more educated youths are venturing into lemon farming. They have started commercial lemon orchard planting 500-3000 lemon trees shifting from the backyard garden type orchard where they had 30-60 lemon trees in their garden. This trend has made the numbers of lemon tree increase exponentially in the village. This trend is a big encouragement for the society and in future will definitely  enhance the income and living standard of the lemon growers.

The Kachai Fruit Farming & Co-operative Society Ltd also owns and operate a 50 Ha land area/farm given by the Kachai Village Authority. Around 10000 Lemon trees have been planted in this farm.