Shillong, April 8: Banteidor Lyngdoh, Agriculture Minister today distributed power tillers and seeds to the farmers of the State under Sub Mission on Agricultural Mechanization (SMAM) and State Plan Scheme during 2020-2021 in a function organized by the Agriculture Engineering (Mechanical) Wing of the Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Government of Meghalaya, at the Meghalaya State Agricultural Management and Extension Training Institute, 7th Mile, Upper Shillong.

Focusing on encouraging mechanization to improve productivity, under the scheme, financial assistance of Rs. 90,000/- is provided to the farmers to procure the power tillers while the rest of the cost has to be borne by them.

Speaking on the occasion, Banteidor Lynngdoh said that the Covid 19 pandemic has posed a huge challenge to the Department in fulfilling its role effectively. However, despite the challenges, the hard work and cooperation of the officers and staff has enabled the Department to reach out to farmers. Informing that although the demand for machineries is growing, the Department is not able to fully meet the needs of the farmers, however efforts are on to ensure that maximum coverage is given to them through Central and State schemes. Reiterating the importance of information, Shri. Lyngdoh stressed on the need of awareness programmes on the different schemes available for farmers so that they can take advantage of the benefits for the upliftment of agricultural activities in the State as a whole. He also highlighted the need to change the guideline of the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) in tune with the local scenario and also informed that 700 power tillers will be distributed to the framers of the State within this year.