Tage Rita
India's first Kiwi wine brewer and agricultural engineer from Ziro Valley.
Tage Rita, an agricultural engineer from the Ziro Valley in Arunachal Pradesh, is recognized as India’s first brewer of kiwi wine. She belongs to the Apatani tribe and earned her degree in agricultural engineering from the North Eastern Regional Institute of Science and Technology (NERIST) in Nirjuli, Arunachal Pradesh.
In 2017, Rita invested in a boutique winery called Naara Aaba. She solved a local problem by turning kiwi—a fruit that grows abundantly in the valley—into wine. She sourced organic fruit from her own orchard and from the Kiwi Growers Cooperative Society in Arunachal Pradesh. This created a reliable market for local farmers. Her winemaking follows traditional methods, and it took six years of research and planning to develop the correct process and recipe. Since 2017, the winery’s production capacity has grown from 20,000 litres to 60,000 litres, using 16 tanks. In its first year, the winery bought about 20 metric tons of kiwis from 300 farmers, encouraging them to return to their orchards. The entire process, from crushing the fruit to bottling, takes about four months. The wine is best served at six to eight degrees Celsius.
Rita has received several honors. On International Women’s Day 2022, President Ram Nath Kovind presented her with the 2020 Nari Shakti Puraskar, an annual award from the Ministry of Women and Child Development that recognizes women who create or inspire change. The ceremony had been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and also honored 72 women vaccinators. In 2018, she won the Women Transforming India Awards, organized by the United Nations and NITI Aayog. She also received the North East Entrepreneur Award. Other recognitions include a felicitation and citation from the Governor of Arunachal Pradesh in October 2018, the Vasundhara Award from Sreemanta Sankara Mission in Guwahati in 2017, and a pioneer women entrepreneur award from the Delhi-based NGO Helping Hands in 2017. She was named Innovative Entrepreneur in 2017 by SMILE ZIRO, a local NGO. In 2020, the Department of Women and Child Development of Arunachal Pradesh gave her a certificate of appreciation. CNBC-18 aired a short story about her for International Women’s Day 2019.
Quick Facts
- Birth Date
- January 26, 1981
- Birth Place
- Ziro, Arunachal Pradesh, India
- Other Names
- Tage Rita Takhe
- Occupation
- Agricultural Engineer
- Known For
- India's first kiwi wine brewer
- Spouse
- Takhe Tamo
- Children
- 4
- Awards
- Women Transforming India Awards 2018, Nari Shakti Puraskar 2022.
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
Tage Rita Takhe belongs to the Apatani tribe and was born in the Ziro Valley. She studied agricultural engineering at NERIST in Nirjuli, Arunachal Pradesh. In 2017, she invested in a boutique winery called Naara Aaba, where she began brewing wine from kiwi fruit, which was abundant in the valley. She sourced organic fruit from her own orchard and the Kiwi Growers Cooperative Society in Arunachal Pradesh, providing assured buyers for local farmers. Her winemaking follows traditional methods and required six years of research and planning to develop the correct procedure and concoction. The winery's capacity scaled from 20,000 litres in 2017 to 60,000 litres currently, using 16 tanks. In its first year, the winery purchased 20 metric tons of kiwis, supporting 300 farmers and bringing them back to kiwi orchards. The entire process from crushing raw material to bottling takes about four months, and the wine is best served between six and eight degrees Celsius.
Reader's Guide
Tage Rita's work is significant as she pioneered kiwi wine production in India, creating a new market for a locally abundant fruit. Her winery, Naara Aaba, provided a stable outlet for kiwi growers in the Ziro Valley, directly supporting 300 farmers in its first year and revitalizing interest in kiwi orchards. By scaling production from 20,000 to 60,000 litres, she demonstrated the viability of boutique winemaking in the region. Her recognition includes the Women Transforming India Awards 2018, organized by the United Nations and NITI Aayog, and the 2020 Nari Shakti Puraskar, awarded by the President of India in 2022. These honors highlight her role in transforming local agriculture and empowering women entrepreneurs. Her legacy lies in establishing a sustainable model that links traditional farming with modern winemaking, addressing both economic and agricultural challenges in Arunachal Pradesh.
Did You Know?
- Tage Rita is India's first Kiwi wine brewer.
- She invested in the boutique winery Naara Aaba in 2017.
- Her winery scaled from 20,000 litres to 60,000 litres of production capacity.
- She received the Nari Shakti Puraskar from President Ram Nath Kovind on International Women's Day 2022.
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