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Chief Minister launches project on PES Approach for Restoration of Ganol Catchment area

Shillong, April 2, 2022 : Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Saturday launched the Pilot Project on Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) Approach for Restoration of Ganol Catchment worth Rs. 1.20 crores and distributed cheques to the producer groups under the FOCUS in the presence of Chief Adviser to the Chief Minister, Thomas A Sangma, Govt. Chief Whip, Marcuise N Marak, Principal Secretary to the Govt. And the CEO of MBDA, P Sampath Kumar, West Garo Hills Deputy Commissioner, Ram Singh, President of the Council of Nokmas, Skylance G Momin, officials of line departments, the Nokmas and villagers of 20 villages of Ganol catchment areas at Asanang village in Rongram C&RD Block on 2 April.

Launching the project, the chief minister said, “Today, we are seeing so much of degradation of forests and most of the water bodies are drying up and the people are not getting enough water supply.”

Informing that climate is changing and at the same time livelihood also is going down, he said that in this situation the Govt. had to come out with a program that would be able to address all these issues and hence the program for PES was made.

In this project the Govt. will be not only telling the public about the different policies and different actions that they should do but also helping them financially to be able to make up for the loss of livelihood or the challenges that they might face in the process and at the same time to ensure that the Govt. works in collaboration with the community to be able to build trust and faith and be able to work together to find a solution to different environmental problems.

He also said that the challenge is to balance livelihood and yet maintain the environment which is the crux of the problem and that is why the Govt. had to come up with different innovative methods.

The chief minister also informed that the Govt. is planning to have 4200 square kilometre catchment areas in the state and informed that the Govt. will provide all necessary help and support to the people through various departments to improve their livelihood.

In his address, the Chief Adviser to the CM, Thomas A Sangma, lauded the Chief Minister for the noble initiative and sought the cooperation and support of the people for the successful implementation of the pilot project.

The Govt. Chief Whip, Marcuise N Marak, urged the villagers to take initiatives for preservation of catchment areas of Ganol river and sought the cooperation and support of the people to restore the natural environment.

The CEO of the MBDA, P Sampath Kumar, delivered the key-note address and the Director of the Centre of Excellence, Dr. S Ashutosh, deliberated on the framework of PES.

On the day the chief minister also released the Inception Report and distributed cheques to 50 producer groups under the FOCUS program

Initiatives : Agriculture

Launch of “Restart Meghalaya Mission’ on 15th August 2020

The Mission comprise of a series of interventions to support farmers and entrepreneurs by enabling them to build growth-promoting basic infrastructure and services. Under this Mission, 1917iTEAMS – the IT Platform aimed at enabling farmers access to agricultural information, crop advisories and markets will be expanded logistically through induction of another 100 vehicles.

Creation of the Directorate of Food Processing on May 2018

With the objective of seizing opportunities in the sector and the untapped food processing potential of the state for uplifting the livelihoods of farmers and value chain actors, the Government of Meghalaya created the Directorate of Food Processing (DFP) as a one-stop agency to handle all matters relating to food processing in the state and to deal with all central government Ministries and Agencies (viz. Ministries of Agriculture, and Food Processing, SFAC, NCDC, NABARD, etc.) in all matters pertaining to the development of agricultural food processing sector.

First Ever Farmer’s Parliament held on 4th - 5th December 2018

The parliament was organised by the state department of agriculture in collaboration with Meghalaya Basin Development Authority (MBDA) and the Hill Farmers' Union (HFU). As a step toward the promotion of new technologies, HFU with the support of Meghalaya government, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for a Machine Learning Artificial Intelligence App for farmers — called Nongrep (nongrep in Khasi language means farmer) with its software partner Impetus Solutions from Hyderabad — as a social innovation project. This app will address matters of farm aggregations, soil health and disease identification, crop yield, farm produce pickups, market linkage and retail sellers app.

Launch of the Farmer’s Portal on 7th May 2018

The Meghalaya Famers’ Portal (www.megfarmers.gov.in) of the Department of Agriculture is a platform for farmers to seek any information related to agriculture. Detailed information on farmers’ insurance, agricultural storage, crops, extension activities, seeds, pesticides, farm machineries, etc. is provided. Details of fertilizers, market prices, package and practices, programmes, welfare schemes are also given.

Awards & Recognitions
  • Meghalaya has been selected for the Commendation award in 'Total foodgrains Category-III' for 2017-18. The award consists of a citation and an amount of Rs. 1 crore.
  • Meghalaya Agriculture Department and the MIE Meghalaya Team won the '7th eNabling North East (eNorth East) Award 2019-20' in the 'Agriculture & Rural Development' category for 1917 iTEAMS project which is a project in collaboration with Digital India.
  • Prime Minister Narendra Modi awarded Meghalaya on May 2018 the Krishi Commendation Award for the year 2015-16, in recognition of the commendable foodgrains production achieved by the State.
  • Meghalaya has been adjudged the Most Improved Small State in the category of Agriculture and received the India Today – "The State of the States” Award on 23rd November 2018.