Tura, Feb 3: Direct business-to-business (B2B) procurement of ginger and turmeric is beginning to reshape agri-marketing in North Garo Hills district, with Dijako Agro Farmer Producer Organization (FPO), Kharkutta, emerging as a key driver of the initiative.
The FPO has recently dispatched 20 metric tonnes (MT) of ginger and turmeric to Jodhpur, taking its cumulative procurement under the B2B model to 80 MT as per the latest assessment. The initiative is built on direct procurement from farmers, aimed at ensuring fair prices while eliminating middlemen.
More than 500 farmers, largely small and marginal cultivators from the district, have benefited so far. Participating farmers said the model has helped them avoid distress sales, provided assured pricing, and improved their access to organised markets, boosting confidence in collective marketing systems.
An interaction meeting with beneficiary farmers was held at Kharkutta, attended by Mr Rupert Momin and Dr Joram Beda, IAS, Director of the Meghalaya New and Renewable Energy Development Agency (MNREDA). Discussions focused on operational learnings, scalability, and the long-term sustainability of the B2B procurement framework.
Addressing the gathering, Dr Beda said the initiative is a pilot intervention under an Asian Development Bank (ADB)-supported programme titled “Enhancing the Livelihood of Rural Communities through the Use of Renewable Energy Systems.” He noted that the objective is to develop a replicable B2B procurement model for cash crops across Meghalaya.
“We are working towards a framework that can be scaled across districts and commodities. By bringing in multiple buyers, we aim to enable competitive price discovery, while MNREDA will facilitate aggregation, logistics, and trust-building between farmers and markets,” he said.
Mr Momin highlighted that the initiative has helped counter distress selling and local market price manipulation. “The model has already contributed to better prices for ginger and turmeric in local markets. Farmers are benefiting directly through assured procurement and indirectly through improved prevailing rates,” he said.
From the buyer’s side, representatives of the Cultivator Natural Product Production and Procurement Team said demand for Meghalaya’s ginger and turmeric remains strong, but consistent availability of large volumes continues to be a challenge due to aggregation constraints.
“Ensuring bigger and consistent volumes is crucial for long-term procurement. Aggregation at the farmer level is the main hurdle. With support from MNREDA and the EY LLP PIC team, we are confident this can be addressed. We look forward to deeper collaboration with the Government of Meghalaya and farmers across the Northeast,” the representatives said.
The growing collaboration between farmers, FPOs, buyers, MNREDA, and EY LLP’s ground support team is being seen as a significant step towards building a transparent, farmer-centric agri-marketing ecosystem in Meghalaya. Encouraged by the pilot’s early success, the initiative is expected to expand to include more farmers, higher procurement volumes, and additional commodities in the coming phases.
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