Tura, April 29: Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma on Friday rolled out the “Ginger Mission” at Oragitok under Rongram Block in West Garo Hills in the presence of MLA Thomas A. Sangma and other dignitaries.
Glad to launch the #GingerMission in Garo Hills at Oragitok, West Garo Hills district. Through this mission, we plan to make Meghalaya the top producer of ginger in the country and also double our farmers’ income.@nstomar @AgriGoI pic.twitter.com/KS1fdSQFTP
— Conrad Sangma (@SangmaConrad) April 29, 2022
The flagship programme of the Government was recently launched with the aim of increasing the production of ginger with introduction of improved and high yielding varieties. The programme will benefit about 40,000 farmers in the State.
Interacting with the farmers, the Chief Minister said that a total of Rs. 121 cr has been earmarked for the next three years for the implementation of the programme, which includes establishment of processing units, imparting training and marketing linkage.
He said that the core objective of the mission is to increase the production of ginger from 60 MT per annum to 150 MT per annum in the next three years, and ensure that Meghalaya becomes one of the largest producers of ginger in the country.
He informed that Meghalaya government has initiated different programmes for the welfare of farmers like piggery mission, jackfruit mission, poultry mission, goatry mission, promotion of SHGs, and the largest farmers collectivisation programme FOCUS.
Informing that in the last four years, the Government through different farmers programmes have mobilised more than Rs. 1000 cr, he said, “For effective utilisation of the funds and schemes, we need to ensure that people at the grassroots are well informed about this programme and take maximum advantage with the formation of cooperatives societies, SHGs and producers group”.
He said that Meghalaya has close to about 4.5 lakh farmers and it will be difficult for the State machinery to reach out to them directly, therefore, he urged different individuals and organisations to come together to initiate formation of cooperative and multi-purpose societies.
During the programme, he also distributed cheques amounting to Rs 27.60 lakhs to 40 Producer Groups (PGs). It is to be mentioned that till date, 287 PGs covering 1876 households have been provided with Rs. 1.8 cr so far in Rongram Block.
Today we extended the benefits of the State’s biggest farmers’ welfare program to 40 Producer Groups at ₹27.60 Lakhs in Oragitok, #WestGaroHills district
The FOCUS program in Rongram Block has benefitted 287 PGs covering 1876 households with ₹1.87 Cr disbursed so far@nstomar pic.twitter.com/LNTFR2H0ai
— Conrad Sangma (@SangmaConrad) April 29, 2022
The Chief Minister also distributed bee-keeping boxes under Apiculture Mission 2.0 to beneficiaries.
Under the Apiculture Mission 2.0, bee hives were distributed to bee keepers in Oragitok, West Garo Hills
The Mission aims to build the capacities of individuals engaged in the honey value chain, augment honey production, processing & marketing capacity in Meghalaya@nstomar pic.twitter.com/b797EGiN4U
— Conrad Sangma (@SangmaConrad) April 29, 2022
