In Meghalaya, many farmers have yet to leverage farm mechanization and are largely dependent on traditional methods of agriculture. This can be attributed to a lack of awareness of the benefits of using agri-tools for higher productivity and efficiency in shorter time frames and the limited availability of these machinery in markets. Nengman Momin, Manager of the CHC at Rajasimla Songma in North Garo Hills said, “the dwindling number of cows and use of traditional ploughs became increasingly unfeasible over time as we were compelled to depend on hired power tillers from private owners who charged high rates of up to Rs 500 per hour.”

With a dearth of human labour and costs of cultivation escalating across the country, it was only practical to support the small and marginal farmers with access to modern machinery to improve the effectiveness of their activities. And hence, the establishment of Custom Hiring Centres, or CHC, 72 set up since 2020.

The CHC intervention aims to improve production efficiency, create an agricultural surplus economy, increase the possibility of farmers’ market participation, and promote high-quality farming development. Ownership and management reside with the project’s Integrated Village Cooperative Societies (IVCS) in a social enterprise mode. They provide fee-based custom hiring of agri tools and farm machinery at subsidized rates.

Nengman is pleased for his fellow farmers that a CHC facility is now open in his village. “The CHC here worked out a pricing model that was viable for business and set the rate of hiring at only Rs. 300 per hour which helped us save money.”

These common facilities have been established at identified value chain clusters of villages and are promoting the use and benefits of these region-specific tools through awareness and capacity building with support from the State’s Agriculture Department, Mechanical Wing.

In Meghalaya, the need to ensure access to basic financial services for farming households in rural areas stemmed from a recognition that there existed a thin spread of banking networks and micro-financial institutions across such regions. The penetration of the formal banking sector has always been minimal because of the non-viability of operations in remote areas with difficult topography, limited transportation facilities, and a dearth of communication infrastructure. Residents would often need to travel long distances just for deposits and withdrawals. Even in areas where bank branches are present, clear gaps exist because of the cumbersome processes of banks, language barriers, and poor general knowledge of financial literacy. 

But Megha-LAMP is alleviating the challenge through the Integrated Village Cooperative Societies (IVCS) – home-grown, community-led credit and marketing institutions formally registered as Cooperative Societies under the Meghalaya Cooperative Societies Act, 2015. IVCS not only provide basic financial services like thrift and credit to their members but also undertake other economic business activities like setting up retail outlets for groceries, input supply for agricultural activities, aggregation, and marketing of agricultural produce, among others. Megha-LAMP supports them with regular handholding in areas relating to maintenance of books of accounts, capacity-building and training, and financial literacy. To augment their capital, the project provides a Corpus Fund. 

330 IVCS have been formed across Meghalaya covering about 42,000 households from 942 villages. “By making financial services available to the last mile, our farmers have been able to take up higher and expanded activities,” said Lawrence Malai, Chairman of the Umkon IVCS Ltd. in Ri Bhoi District. The next phase involves tackling the challenge of financial inclusion. Soon, 200 IVCS will provide extension services to their members as Banking Correspondents of MCAB Ltd.  

The Collective Marketing Centres (CMC) established under Megha-LAMP across Meghalaya were set up to counter the growing issue with the small and marginal farmers having little to no control in supply chains, and enable them to regain bargaining power, cut costs of transportation and storage, and minimize the position of middlemen. The initiative first stemmed from a recognition that existing market conditions were deplorable, and farmers were getting undeserved, meager returns for their produce. If not addressed, then thousands of farmers and their standards of living would be impacted.

CMCs are one-stop shops for cluster or village-level aggregation, processing, marketing, and input supply. They aim to create awareness of collective marketing and its merits, initiate a system of aggregation and value addition at the market level, ensure transparent and good governance for the marketing of produce by a collective, and enhance the skills of the stakeholder in areas of marketing and financial linkages.

Megha-LAMP supports their activities with a returnable working capital loan and an infrastructure grant. Since the start of the initiative in 2020, 185 CMCs have been formed.

Sunshine Ryngkhlem, Manager of the CMC in Wapung Skur Village, East Jaintia Hills stated, “the CMC has fulfilled the needs of the community. Fellow farmers no longer need to search for markets outside the village as these produce are available for customers here at fair prices. We also have taken the extra step of delivering goods to our customers’ doorsteps. We look forward to increasing the production of our farmers and our Producer Groups.”

Larnai Village in West Jaintia Hills is located about 19 kilometers from the District headquarters, Jowai, and about 8 kilometers from the Block headquarters, Thadlaskein. There are 175 households in Larnai and the village is home to 1161 people. The village faced big problems with safe drinking water as the source was unclean and unsanitary, and was contaminated by animals. There was always a shortage of water in the lean winter seasons. With the population increasing, so too did the water demand, and this challenge prompted the committee members of Larnai to look for ways to improve the living conditions. In this way, an initiative to be led by the community was regarded as the best way forward, and the Meghalaya Livelihoods and Access to Markets Project (Megha-LAMP) became the intervention.

The first step was to conduct Participatory Rural Appraisals (PRA) exercises to map the available resources and the land used land cover of the village so that a plan for the implementation of activities can be developed.

The executive members of the community raised their issues with the supply of safe drinking water before the District Project Management Unit team in Thadlaskein Block. The Field Engineer of the District was also present at the meeting.

A site inspection was conducted by the engineer to the springshed to study the feasibility of the land for initiating interventions under the project and to diagnose the problems at the water source. It was found that the spring chamber was exposed to pathogens and animals, and the water discharge was low. It was decided that Contour Trenches can be built to reduce the surface runoff of rainwater and to allow infiltration and to trap water into the ground, and a spring chamber can be constructed in partnership with Megha-LAMP.

The stakeholders for implementing the project at Larnai consisted of the Larnai VEC, the Office of the Block Development Officer (BDO), Thadlaskein Block, the MGNREGA scheme, and the INRM component under Megha-LAMP.

Smt. Baian Blah (MCS) BDO, Thadlaskein Block informed that the 3 rural development projects were built and implemented by Megha-LAMP in convergence with the MGNREGA scheme viz., an RCC Check Dam with a total project cost of Rs.2.93 lakhs, a Drinking well with a project cost of Rs. 1.6 lakhs, and Contour Trenches with project cost amounting to Rs. 4,375. All 3 projects were initially planned and selected by the community of Larnai through the Village Employment Council under the ‘Shelves of Work’, which is a 5-year Plan Design selected by the people to bring about development and welfare.

The RCC Check dam was aimed at providing irrigation to a 5-acre paddy field to ensure farming activities even in the winter seasons. The drinking well provides safe drinking water to the community. And the Contour Trenches were constructed to reduce the surface runoff of rainwater, to break up the slope surface, and to allow infiltration and trap sediments so that water availability in the aquifer and the discharge of the spring is increased.

The Field Engineer stated, “Larnai VEC is under Phase III of INRM, Megha- LAMP Project. Following the PRA exercises, paper documents were prepared for opening a Bank Account for support fund transfer. After the village committee had decided the nature of the interventions that were required, a field survey was conducted to study the feasibility of initiating interventions. A plan and estimate were prepared following the approval by the Block Development Officer cum Nodal Officer of Megha LAMP. The project prepares the materials component and MGNREGA prepares the wages component. Further, the Larnai VEC has received the “Challenge Fund” to develop a catchment to protect and sustain the source of the Check dam and to control the runoff. To sustain these projects, the Village Monitoring Committee of Megha-LAMP and MGNREGA will henceforth plant trees in and around the source to protect the ecosystem. The Land Use Land Cover (LULC) MAP, which was a first for us, will help our village to formulate ‘Community Developmental Plans.’”

Water scarcity in the village was mainly seen from December to April. The distance for fetching water is 1 kilometer from the area where its people settle. The biggest positive has been the easy access to clean drinking water and the reduction of drudgery for the women and children of Larnai. The construction work has also been built in a way that animals can no longer pollute the water. Currently, 80 of the 175 households are benefiting directly from the initiative. The community is now looking forward to becoming a Water Surplus village.

A representative of the women of Larnai, Smt. Krelin Sari stated, “For years, we have been facing issues with water scarcity. Usually, we would have to purchase water during the dry winter seasons, but now with the intervention of Megha-LAMP, our problems have been eased. We would like to congratulate our men in the Village Committee for finding long-term solutions to our water issues. Lastly, we urge the village dorbar to ensure the sustainability of the interventions. They must preserve the sources of water and protect the ecosystems”.

In 2017, the Rural Finance team conducted an awareness programme on the Integrated Village Cooperative Societies (IVCS) at the Block Office in Umling village, Ri-Bhoi District. The village headman, the assistant headman, and a few members of the Village Executive Committee (VEC) of Mawlong Nongtluh attended the programme. The participants were very impressed with the proposed initiative and decided that forming an IVCS in their village was very feasible. The first step was to inform other Executive Members of the VEC about this exciting initiative.

That October, another awareness programme was conducted and this time, organized by the village members themselves with support from the DPMU-Ri-Bhoi. On the 3rd of October, 2017, and with 20 registered members, the Mawlong Nongtluh IVCS Ltd. was officially formed. Membership fees were determined to be Rs. 500 per head, and each member had to hold at least one share.

Mrs. Rilians Syiem, a member of the Managing Committee of the Mawlong Nongtluh IVCS Ltd. spoke about the pros of an IVCS especially in the rural areas where banking facilities are not always accessible. She advocated complete support to the IVCS model, and she along with other women members, decided to spread awareness about the IVCS initiative with other village localities.

“Initially, it was fairly difficult to get the community to agree to the IVCS model and to make them understand about the benefits of forming one. This was because most of them could not fully grasp the concept. But, since we believed in the IVCS initiative, we persevered with our own awareness campaigns and in time, our hard work paid off as people would come to register on their own. Within a year, membership strength had increased from 20 to 401. The IVCS is helping us as we can save our money and we can also take any type of small loans during emergencies without having to go through the hassle of a complicated documentation process.”

One member applied and was approved of a loan of Rs. 3,000 in June 2018 when his crops were attacked by pests.

“By getting the loan, I was able to save my crops from the pest attacks and thus, avoid loss. But if I had applied for a loan from the bank, the expenses spent in commuting to Nongpoh and back would have been more than Rs. 3, 000, and by the time the process is approved, my crops would have already been destroyed”

Mrs. Streamlet Mawphniang, an agricultural farmer, opened a savings account in early 2018 and she has been saving between Rs. 100 and Rs. 200 per week at the IVCS, which otherwise would not have been possible given how distant the Bank was.

Mawlong Nongtluh IVCS Ltd. has since become one of the top-performing IVCS anywhere in the State. It is thriving because its members have common goals, and have regularly been able to identify and invest in the right opportunities. For e.g. a survey conducted on construction work in the village and four other neighbouring villages revealed that the villagers would have to travel to either Umden or Nongpoh to acquire a bag of cement priced at Rs. 450 per bag. Sensing an opportunity to expand, the members of the IVCS met with a few cement dealers based in Nongpoh to determine if selling cement at their village was a viable plan. Hence, an investment of Rs. 40, 000 was made in renting a shop within the village to sell cement at Rs. 430 per bag to members and Rs.440 per bag to non-members. The shop opens three hours in the mornings, and three in the evenings. Mr. Shanbor Syiem, a member of the IVCS, has been kept in charge of the shop and is paid an honorarium of Rs. 1000 per month. According to Mr. Syiem, an average of seven to eight bags is sold every day, and the margin of profit is between Rs. 2,000 and Rs. 2, 500 per pick-up truck.

A variety of spices are grown in Meghalaya due to favourable soil conditions, and these include turmeric, chilli, bay leaf, and black pepper. Of these natural spices, black pepper is one of the most grown and most demanded in Ri Bhoi District. The IVCS identified that this was another opportunity to expand activities, and as such, a nursery was set up when one member was able to provide a piece of land. Such was the demand that bookings flew in before the black pepper saplings had even matured. The IVCS priced each sapling at Rs. 15 for members and Rs. 20 for non-members.

Another business venture that the IVCS facilitated is pineapple plantation. A member donated land for cultivating pineapples while other members contributed seedlings. The IVCS made huge profits during the harvesting season in 2019.

The model Mawlong Nongtluh IVCS Ltd. illustrates that investing in forming an IVCS particularly in rural areas can be truly beneficial and can help bridge many gaps. The IVCS has also demonstrated that formation is simple because an IVCS is based in one village, and can extend membership to all eligible adult members. Perhaps, the most helpful feature of an IVCS is that services are made exclusively available to all individuals of the village, and are not confined to only business groups or groups of people.

Cham Cham is a village located in the East Jaintia Hills district. The village has been greatly affected by decades of unregulated mining which has caused widespread landscape degradation. To alleviate the problems that have emerged due to the infertility of the soil, Megha-LAMP has undertaken interventions in the area through facilitating the planting of aromatic grasses.

Cham Cham was selected for the intervention, after an awareness programme which was held by the DPMU, Khliehriat on the various aromatic plants and their benefits. The plantation was carried out on private land and the saplings were provided by the BDU and DPMU, Khliehriat. The villagers also received training regarding the plantation of these species by MBDA.

The intervention is ongoing and many villagers have been recruited who are getting paid by MBDA. The villagers were also taken on an exposure visit to Byrwa in Ri Bhoi where they saw aromatic grasses plantation and learnt about the distillation of oils and the process involved. Cham Cham was selected for the intervention because of the quality of land which is highly degraded. Planting of aromatic plants can help in land reclamation as they can thrive where no other plants can grow. The community took a huge initiative and went ahead with afforestation in the degraded lands. The IVCS is responsible for the plantation of these plants which include lemon grass, citronella and germanium.

Bah Stop Phawa, Secretary of Cham Cham IVCS, “The villagers’ face many problems and difficulties with access to drinking water being the main problem. There is also the problem of the unavailability of roads and the infertility of land. These problems have led to many other problems such as less production of crops, less income, difficulty to travel and poor health. The intervention has helped address these problems and have been of great help to the community.”

“There have been interventions from the government and also private enterprises. We have received support from Horticulture and Agriculture departments, BDU and DPMU. They have helped through interventions like construction of roads, fencing, footpaths and providing saplings. These interventions have helped and contributed to the growth of the village. Apart from these interventions, we have received training and guidance in the growing of aromatic grasses. The village now needs a distillation machine to extract oil from the aromatic plants and an irrigation canal in order to expand and improve the plantations.”

Piggery in Meghalaya is an age-old, traditional livelihood activity that has been the sole source of bread and butter for generations of households. For some, this activity has earned them a fortune while for others, it has been just enough for sustenance. Whatever the case may be, piggery is an intrinsic part of the culture and history of the local people, and will remain so for generations to come.

Typically, people rear one or two pigs in their backyard as a secondary source of income. It is not uncommon to see backyard pig sties when strolling though rural areas or even semi-urban areas. Financially, this activity has an advantage over others in that, it is easier to do, and is less labour-intensive, with returns being quite favourable comparatively. Traditionally, pigs are looked after by members of the household and are fed farm and kitchen wastes resulting in minimal input cost. These days, there is a gradual shift to scientific methods of rearing but even these can be low cost with much higher returns to the farmers. The biggest upside to rearing pigs as a secondary source of income is that they are easier to sell thanks to an always high demand.

In a small village in East Jaintia Hills in Meghalaya called Wapung Skur, is a man known as Sunshine Ryngkhlem who has taken piggery to the next level and reaped significant benefits from it not only in terms of monetary gains, but also in terms of the overall development of his community. Wapung Skur is located approximately 10kms from the Deputy Commissioner’s Office in Khliehriat, and most residents are directly or indirectly engaged in coal mining activities for livelihood. It may be mentioned that East Jaintia Hills is a major coal belt and has been the subject of controversy in the last few years seeing as coal mining is usually unregulated. Mr. Sunshine was no different. He too worked as a daily laborer in one of the coal mines there, making a meager Rs. 3,000 to Rs 4,000 per month, barely enough to support his family. However, as the issues of unregulated mining grew in the state, he started to become aware of the ill effects of unscientific coal mining and future health implications. After much consideration, he decided to leave this work, and went with the bold decision to set up a piggery farm on his small plot of land.

Initially, Mr. Sunshine started with two pigs. Methods of rearing were traditional, which caused many of his piglets to die soon after birth. It was a problem which he had to address. Hence, on 23rd September, 2013, he registered with the Meghalaya Basin Development Authority (MBDA) and was invited to participate in a ten-day training workshop at the Rural Resource and Training Centre (RRTC) in Ri Bhoi district. There, he learned about vaccination methods, proper feeding routines, sanitation, and gestation periods.

Armed with new knowledge, Mr. Sunshine returned home and decided to expand his farm. He started by purchasing fresh piglets. He would then spend two hours in the mornings and two in the evenings feeding them and cleaning the shed. Months later, his hard work paid off. His 50 piglets had become fully grown pigs, ready for sale. Along with these, he also had 26 piglets which were also ready for sale. He sold the pigs for Rs. 15,000 each while the piglets fetched Rs. 3,000 each. By 2015, his business was running well with profit margins in excess of Rs. 2 lakhs.

Presently, Mr. Sunshine owns more than 80 pigs in his shed and those include fully grown pigs. He has also since developed his own medicinal remedies by making use of locally available herbs such as sla Burma, sla soh priam, and sla sohphoh to treat wounds and diseases. As far as future plans are concerned, Mr. Sunshine hopes to upscale and expand his mini-farm, and turn it into a bigger facility cum training institute where aspiring entrepreneurs can enroll to be trained on the many facets of pig farming including productive farm management. The long-term goal is for graduated trainees to become a part of a thriving piggery market complete with matching market linkages which will not be limited to just entrepreneurs in the district, but which can be accessible to all pig farmers from across the state.