Shillong, Sep 30: The Voice of the People Party (VPP) state youth wing today submitted its suggestions on the draft Meghalaya State Agriculture Policy 2026 to Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Minister Timothy D Shira.
In a memorandum the VPP youth wing suggested setting up solar-powered cold storage in every district with 80 per cent subsidy to farmer producer organisations (FPOs) for perishable crops.
It sought that all middlemen and aggregators be brought under licensing and regulation to ensure fair prices and to check exploitation and kilo-cutting by marketing agents.
The party said the policy should give strong focus on market access and market centres, noting that many farmers produce good quality products but fail to get remunerative prices due to lack of direct market linkage, and urged the government to establish more regulated rural markets, aggregation centres and cold-chain facilities at the district level.
The VPP also demanded 80 per cent reservation for local youth in jobs in agri-infrastructure and hubs with preference for local materials, along with free crop insurance and village-level seed banks for indigenous crops.
For procurement during crises, it suggested auto procurement within 72 hours and direct benefit transfer within seven days if prices crash below 15 per cent of the minimum support price (MSP), procurement of rice and vegetables at MSP for the public distribution system and Mid-Day Meal Scheme during famine or drought, mobile vans to buy usable crops at village level during bad weather, and declaration of trigger price before the sowing season.
District cluster-level micro-processing units for surplus produce should also be set up, it added, with 80 per cent subsidy for youth and self-help groups to ensure value addition stays in Meghalaya. It also proposed pilot agricultural and gravity ropeways from farm clusters to roads and markets to cut transport costs.
