By Nabamita Mitra
& Willie Gordon Suting
Gone are the days when farmers had to largely depend on middlemen to sell their produce at rates which would be inversely proportional to their labour. In this age of information, farmers can play the dual role of producer and seller by gauging the market pulse and setting competitive prices. With the right initiation and dedication, they can even drive entrepreneurship at the grassroots level.
Though that remains the long-run objective, the state has taken the first step to make farmers aware of the trade and train them in production, basics of entrepreneurship and market survey at the farmers’ business school, or FBS.
A business school for farm workers would have been discarded as an implausible idea only two decades ago but in today’s world, it holds water as it not only aims to ensure sustainability but also has the potential to retain the migrating rural populace, especially educated youths.
Despite the haughtiness of the words ‘business school’, an FBS is a simple model based on community cropping and is part of a three-year research project to enhance food resilience among poor households in upland and coastal communities of the Asia-Pacific region.
Wahlyngkien in Mawphlang is among the six villages which have been chosen for the Food Resilience Through Root and Tuber Crops in Upland and Coastal Communities of the Asia-Pacific (FoodSTART+), being implemented in the state by the Meghalaya Basin Development Authority (MBDA) in collaboration with International Potato Centre, Peru, under the Megha-LAMP project.
The business school here has 30 members. Kwelstar Warjri, the young facilitator who took training at Bethany’s Society last August, is guiding the members in marketing.
The training period is nine months and the timeline for the complete cycle of the process is three years.
The village along the Lyngkien river produces vegetables, maize and potato but for now, the business school is focusing on reaping benefits from five varieties (Giridhari, Jyoti, Megha, Himalini and Giriraj) of organic potatoes.
Warjri and Phlassing Kharhunai, the second facilitator who is also the Rangbah Dong, say the Basin has provided seeds for initial plantation. Pointing at the 1.5 acres of farmland utilised by the business school, Warjri says the first crop has been harvested and is kept for seeding.
The sowing period is March-April and till that time, the farmers will grow vegetables on the land, informs Kharhunai.
The village with a population of little over 600 with most of the households engaged in farming is yet to taste the fruit of the new project but the facilitators sound optimistic as they show their harvest locked in a tin-roofed store room adequately ventilated by a rectangular window.
The harvest, segregated by variety, is kept in separate heaps. The names of the varieties are scribbled on small pieces of paper. “The seeds from here will be sowed next year. The emphasis is on the organic nature of the produce. Through this programme, the government is promoting organic potatoes free of adulteration,” says Kharhunai.
Mawngap and Tyrsad are the other two villages adjacent to Wahlyngkien in Khasi Hills which have been selected for the project that is in the nascent stage.
The reason for the close proximity of the three villages is to facilitate easier collective marketing. “The selection of future villages/FBS will also be adjacent to the existing FBS for the same reason,” says a senior official in the knowhow of the project.
In Garo Hills, Bokchugre, Gadarugre and Dilsigre have got FBS. While potato is the crop in focus in Khasi Hills, tapioca and yam have been prioritised in Garo Hills. Other vegetables will be included in due course of time.
Keeping in mind that the objective of the project is primarily to enhance food resilience and for food security and secondarily to promote enterprises through these products, a comprehensive scoping study was conducted in 2016 by International Potato Centre, Peru, in collaboration with MBDA. “Based on the finding of these studies, one of the action plan is to launch the farmers’ business school to take forward these activities. The project has developed training modules which would enable farmers to conduct their own market survey,” informs the official.
The 25 farmers at Mawngap Rim who are part of the project get their training from L Marbaniang, a resident of Mawlai who visits the village once a week. “I meet the members in the community hall. I usually train them on Fridays but on market days, I adjust the session,” says Marbaniang.
The training, which started in January, is nearing completion and the FBS members are hopeful of change. There is also scepticism among a few, like Lasing Langstieh.
“I cannot say I learned a lot from training because the techniques taught were common knowledge to farmers. They were the basics. I have been practising farming for 30 years now and I rely mostly on experiential knowledge. Yes, Basin’s attempt to help us is understandable but there has been no financial assistance,” says Langstieh.
The allocated fund for the FBS is only Rs 60,000 for the demonstration of Organic Potato Plantation and Rs 1,30,000 for construction of light diffused storage for potato at the three FBSs in East Khasi Hills district.
“Besides, fund of Rs 40,000 per facilitator for the entire duration of the course (nine months) has also been allocated. There is also community contribution in the form of labour and materials during the practical trainings,” says the official.
There is another cause for concern. The state does not have a separate market for organic produce and farmers often incur loss.
Satarlin Lyngdoh Mawphlang, a 52-year-old member of the Wahlyngkien, says growing organic crops needs patience and hard work. The farmers work from 10am to 4pm. The Wahlyngkien team feels the farmers deserve a separate market and higher prices.
“There will be convergence with the Directorate of Horticulture, Meghalaya, for marketing these organic produces and, at present, buyers like Organic Majuli have already tied up with MBDA for marketing these organic produces/products,” says the official.
The project will be extended to other blocks of the state which are currently not covered under the Megha-LAMP project once the cycle for the existing FBSs is complete.
Whether the business schools bring about an exemplary change in the state’s farming sector is yet to be seen but 31-year-old Manrihun Lyngdoh Mawphlang of Wahlyngkien sees a window of opportunity, “It is contributing towards progress. The training is helping us and I see there is hope and purpose.”