By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Dec 4: Farmers of the state were on Monday celebrated at the third session of Meghalaya Farmers’ Parliament — a platform where this fraternity of industrious individuals was given an opportunity to discuss and exchange ideas pertaining to farming — which coincided with Meghalaya Farmers Day.
The Meghalaya Farmers’ Parliament was inaugurated by Chief Minister Conrad Sangma alongside Agriculture Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh and Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Minister AL Hek at the State Convention Centre here.
The parliament was first started in 2019.
The chief minister, congratulating the farmers, termed it as celebration of the hardworking fraternity.
Stating that the government is trying to look at the broader perspective that goes beyond just making schemes for the farmers, the CM said, “As the government, we have always believed in ensuring that we don’t look at schemes anymore. I am very much against our officials and our ministers who focus on schemes because that narrows down our vision and our purpose. But it is about the result that the scheme is going to give us, and it is very important as political leaders and as government officials to keep an eye on the objective.”
The chief minister also inaugurated the Regeneration Meghalaya programme that aims to support farmers to restore 22,670 hectares supporting biodiversity and soil conservation, as well as climate and catchment health co-benefits.
Around 2 lakh trees have been planted, and now soil and water conservation works are under way to enable further planting of millions of trees in 2024. Biophysical indicators such as biomass, soil organic carbon, land productivity and land cover will be monitored in alignment with the UNCCD Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) Global Mechanism of which, the central government is a key signatory.
The Agriculture minister, also addressing the gathering, mentioned that it is important for the state to retain the traditional methods of farming in a bid to retain the nutrition of the soil.
She added, “The key message I want to convey is the need for a conducive platform to engage farmers in a dialogue about investment — how much, from where, and how we can support Meghalaya’s government in initiating a productive and result-oriented investment.” The project is a collaboration between Earthbanc, AstraZeneca, Earthtree, Hill Farmers Shiitake Mushroom Coop Society and Worldview Impact (India).
KN Kumar, Commissioner, Meghalaya farmers’ (Empowerment) Commission in his address said that the main area of concern should be the loss of farmers, especially with the youth moving away from it.
He pitched the idea of a University of Animal Sciences in the state to provide the youth with technical ideas of poultry and pig farming.
The dais also had Secretary to Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Isawanda Laloo, president of Hills Farmers’ Union, Commander Shangpliang, COO Earthbanc, Chau Duncan, Country President and Managing Director, AstraZeneca India, Sanjeev Panchal, among others.