Rural entrepreneurship in M’laya to get boost with Farmers Development Centre

By By Our Reporter Last updated Oct 24, 2021

SHILLONG, Oct 23: The Smart Village Movement, in collaboration with eFresh Global and Meghalaya Government, has come up with a one-stop solution for the agricultural ecosystem in the state.
The Farmers Development Centre (eFresh Global), through rural entrepreneurship, aims to be a one-stop center for the farmer’s journey in the region with agri-advisory, capacity-building, agri-inputs and market linkages.
A statement in this regard informed that the Farmers Development Centre will be fully operationalised within two to three weeks.
It may be mentioned that the idea behind the Farmers Development Centre is to bring interested private players to rural parts of Meghalaya so that the rural populace gets access to quality healthcare, livelihood and education.
To prepare for the next cropping season, the companies are working with the entrepreneurs to establish community relationships, mobilise farmers and introduce FDCs in their respective pilot locations. eFresh Global is currently training the entrepreneurs to mobilise farmers to increase their yield and sell their products to bulk buyers in Meghalaya and beyond.
Shedding light on the initiative, nodal officer of Smart Village Movement, Meghalaya, Ramkumar S, informed that ‘trailblazer labs’ for children and youths in remote areas have been set up under the initiative while the first-of-its-kind in India was set up in Sohrarim village, East Khasi Hills.
“Library, movie screening, computer lab, 3D printing, online courses, do-it-yourself techniques are at this centre with a dedicated team to curate learning skills for life. The centre is fully solar powered with a 12KW state-of-the-art system dedicated by Hygge Energy, Canada,” he said.
It may be mentioned that the idea is a pet initiative of Chief Minister Conrad Sangma, the MoU for which was signed two years ago between the Meghalaya Government and University of California, Berkeley. The project was, however, delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.