Shillong, Aug 15: As Meghalaya gears up to celebrate its Golden Jubilee of Statehood next year, the NPP-led MDA Government is focusing to empower the farmers  and  producers  of  the  State.

Speaking at the 75th Independence Day Celebrations at the Polo grounds here, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said the government has launched a comprehensive  program  called  FOCUS-  Farmers’  Collectivization  for Upscaling  Production  and  Marketing  Systems, which focuses on farmers and producers since 70%  of the state’s population  is  engaged  in  Agriculture,  Horticulture,  Fisheries,  Livestock  and Textile  sectors.

The  program  aims  at  collectivization  of  farmers  into    Producer  Groups, FPOs  and  Cooperatives.  Under  the  program,  over  the  next  15  months,  Rs. 5,000  will  be  provided  to  every  farming  household  for  taking  up  activities related  to  value  chain  development.  This  funding  will  be  provided  as  a corpus  to  the  producer  groups.  An  amount  of  Rs.  200  crores  will  be  spent on  the  FOCUS  program.

The  pilot  phase  of  the  program  has  been successfully  implemented  with  the  formation  of  over  2,200  new    Producer Groups  comprising  about  30,000  farmers.  An  amount  of  about  Rs.  12  crores has  already  been  credited  into  the  bank  accounts  of  the  producer  groups.

“I  have  personally  interacted  with  the  Banana  and  the  Ginger  groups  in Songsak  block  and  the  Bayleaf  and  Honey  producer  groups  in  Mawkyrwat block  who  have  been  provided  funds  under  the  FOCUS  program.  The response  from  the  farmers  is overwhelming.  They  now  have  money at hand to  invest  in  the  immediate  needs  of  production  rather  than  having  to  look for  money lenders  or  financial  institutions  or  government  departments,” Sangma said.

Mission  Mode  projects

The chief minister informed that Mission  Mode  projects  with  specific  product  focus  continue  to  be implemented even as the state has set  a target of becoming completely  organic  by  2030.

– The Bio-Resources Development  Centre  at  Upper  Shillong  has  been  declared  as  the  State Nodal  Agency for  Organic  Certification.

– Under  the  Lakadong  mission  an  additional  area  of  1,075 hectares  has  been  covered  benefitting  over  6,000  farmers  in  the  Laskien and  Thadlaskien  blocks.

– Export  shipment  of  Turmeric  has  also  been facilitated  to  the  Netherlands,  Russia,  UK  and  USA.

– Under  the  Mushroom Mission,  annual  production  of  oyster  and  button  mushroom  has  increased from  27  metric  tons to  200  metric  tons  during  2020-21.

– New  initiatives  in  Horticulture  include  the  focus  on  Citrus  revival, development  of  the  Bee  Value  Chain,  promoting  floriculture  and  increasing vegetable  production.

– Centres  of  Excellence  are  being  set  up  for  Citrus  at Dawagre  in  East Garo  Hills,  for  Vegetables  at  Jongsha  in  East  Khasi  Hills  and for  Bee  Development  at Sambrak  in North  Garo Hills.

– Government continues  to  implement  Meghalaya  State  Aquaculture Mission  2.0.  In  addition  to  area  expansion  and  increasing  production, development  of  fish  sanctuaries  is  also  being  prioritized.

– The State is also implementing  Piggery  mission  and  Milk  mission  successfully.  Under  the piggery  mission,  95  cooperative  societies  and  1,367  producers  have  been sanctioned  interest-free  loans  for  breeding  and  fattening.

– The  Government  is also supporting  the  Eri  and  Muga  weavers  in  adopting  scientific  methods.  The process  of  obtaining  the  Geographical  Indication  for  Meghalaya’s  unique Eri  –  The  Ryndia  Peace  Silk  is  under  progress.