Chairman of the Meghalaya Farmers (Empowerment) Commission, KN Kumar today said that as farmers constitute 50 per cent of the state’s population it is important for everyone to listen to their voice when they stand up and say something.
“Farmers are the primary economic units not only in Meghalaya but the entire country and if the farmers fail the whole economy fails and the farmers deserve more than what he is getting,” he said during the second Meghalaya Farmers Day celebration held at the State Convention Centre here.
Stating that the strengthening and collectivisation of the farmers are far more important than any other in the social transformation of the country and state, he also stressed that food processing is another important factor for empowering the farmers.
“Every farmer should develop skills to do food processing because when you produce what you can process then you will enrich yourself. Just like in the case of Lakadong turmeric, if sold as rhizomes it’s Rs 40, sold as a slice more than Rs 100, but if process it into a powder it can be sold at Rs 400,” he said, adding that if one cannot process the product then they should not produce it because they are making some else rich with their product which is bad economics.
He however said that farmers do not do the processing because they are not confident, they don’t have the skills and the types of machinery and the ability to think differently and this way of thinking has to break.
Another factor he pointed out is the fact that 15 per cent of land is used for the cultivation of food grains in the state which means that Meghalaya will never be self-sufficient in food grains (Rice).
“You can cultivate rice for self or community consumption and not think beyond that and our farmers should change their mindset and instead opt to farm cash crops, honey, mushroom, spices, dairy, fisheries, besides others,” he said.
He further stressed that there should be one policy for the farmers and all the disjointed policies that are hardly implemented in the field should be done away with to uplift the farmers in the state.
Meanwhile, Agriculture Minister Banteidor Lyngdoh said that the number of beneficiaries for the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana (PM-Kisan Yojana) in the state is low.
Stating that the common saying that farmers are the backbone of the state and country has become a common dialogue only during the election and big platforms but not in spirit, he said, “The Directorate of Agriculture is the secretariat of the farmers and the farmers should directly report to me against any officials in the department who refuse or fail to assist and enlighten our farmers of the various schemes they can avail.”
Informing that soon a festival on Lakadong turmeric will be organized where many big investors from across will come and have direct interaction with the farmers of the state to further promote the spice, he informed that the government has identified another 10 markets that will be constructed to assist the farmers and the public.
“We have plans to introduce the fruits processing units in difficult terrain like in the Ri War area so that we take the processing unit to the farmers. We will also soon distribute more than 400 power tillers from the Ministry of Tribal affair,” he informed.
He also urged farmers not to depend on the middlemen for marketing. “Exploitation of farmers by middlemen has become a disease and there is a need to discuss and eradicate this,” he said.
