From Our Correspondent
TURA, Aug 4: Farming, despite being essential to all, has never been a lucrative trade—especially in the Garo Hills, where the hilly terrain adds to the challenges. However, this could change rapidly if the efforts of a recently opened co-operative society in Babadam, West Garo Hills, begin to bear fruit in the coming years.
The All Garo Hills Multipurpose Co-Operative Society (AGHMPCS), established with the support of the Meghalaya government in 2022, has a heartening story that could spark a revolution in agriculture and horticulture.
The Babadam office sits on over five bighas of land and houses three processing units, one quality control lab, an administrative building, staff quarters, a training hall, cold storage, a warehouse with a 1,000 MT capacity, and an upcoming six-storey multi-utility space.
How it started
AGHMPCS is the brainchild of Fr Sunny Joseph Mavelil, former director of BAKDIL—an NGO that has been working for the upliftment of society in the region for decades. While its efforts were commendable, Fr Sunny felt they were not significantly easing the financial hardships of the farming community. He saw a need to go deeper into the villages and work with farmers through their challenges.
“The land was donated by the people, and the current building we have was constructed by the state government. We became operational in 2022 but faced immediate hardships in procuring materials,” said Fr Sunny.
“I felt we were not making a difference to the community in terms of finances despite the rich flora and fauna we have here. Many of these farmers were being exploited by cunning middlemen, mainly from Assam. These people also didn’t have access to a wider market, and some didn’t even have access to local markets.”
The hardship was deeply entrenched in a culture that had developed over time—traders from Assam coming into the state to buy farm produce. These traders not only dictated the market but also fixed prices and quantities of the produce they wanted to buy.
“There have been so many cases where villagers come to weekly markets with their goods and these traders refuse to buy at the price demanded. As these traders worked in tandem, they would wait until the end of the day, forcing the farmer to sell at throwaway prices, unwilling to take back the goods they had painstakingly brought to sell. This trend has been going on for a long time,” said Fr Sunny.
That is where the cooperative aimed to set a benchmark. Goods like cashew nuts, betel nut, ginger, pineapple, turmeric, and pepper became AGHMPCS’s first targets.
“We had trouble trying to procure goods from farmers in the beginning due to their continued sales to Assam traders. These goods were being sold at low rates, which was not benefiting the farmers as it should. We began by announcing that we would buy cashew kernels at Rs 90 per kg—almost double the market price,” the secretary added.
The result was immediate. The cooperative had to shut its gate in just three days due to the overwhelming volume of cashew nuts received.
“We paid Rs 2 crore to cashew producers in just three days and had no more money to continue purchases. We’ve maintained the same rate ever since. We are also returning profits to farmers whenever possible,” he said.
In the first year, AGHMPCS procured 240 MT of all farm produce.
This number has steadily increased, with more than 820 MT of cashews procured in 2025 alone.
Fr Sunny also highlighted the story of coffee in Garo Hills, which until a few years ago sold for as low as Rs 15 per kg. The situation has completely changed since the cooperative joined the fray, offering farmers up to Rs 130 per kg for their produce.
“We began procuring coffee in the first year at Rs 35 (more than twice the market price). The next year the price rose to Rs 60, then Rs 70. Last year we paid between Rs 120–Rs 150. This has encouraged more people to take coffee plantations seriously.
We also gave one-third of the profits back to the farmers,” he added.
Fr Sunny said the cooperative’s aim is to ensure farmers get the best value for their produce, unlike earlier when Assam traders dictated the market and skewed prices in their favour.
The cooperative now procures over 15 types of farm products—agricultural and horticultural—from the districts of West, South West, South, and East Garo Hills. These include cashew, betel, ginger, coffee, mustard, black pepper, among others. AGHMPCS is still working to expand its coverage.
Its entry into the betel nut trade has sparked a fair-price war, ultimately benefiting the farmers.
“Although it is not our main focus, we have taken it upon ourselves to provide processing units even at the local level for the farmers. Our entry has caused a positive shift in pricing of betel nut. In fact, this trend is evident in all the areas we’ve entered,” said the secretary.
AGHMPCS began as a conglomeration of various SHGs and smaller cooperatives, which were formed into 30 primary cooperatives. Initially, only two were active, but now 20 are active. The cooperative has five branches across Garo Hills, all aimed at reaching local farmers and ensuring they are not short-changed.
“They reach out to everyone they can and act as the first point of contact. They also locally procure farm products and send them to the Babadam office if the quantity is more than what they can manage. All these units have processing plants for most of the produce. We started by reaching out to a few farmers but now have a family of over 4,500 farmers. Our aim is to grow this number so that all of Garo Hills becomes part of this collective as stakeholders,” said Fr Sunny.
