Agriculture Research Stations and Laboratories Scheme

What is the Agriculture Research Stations and Laboratories scheme?

Agriculture Research Stations and Laboratories is a scheme head of the Department of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare, Government of Meghalaya. According to the department's scheme page on megagriculture.gov.in, the objective is "Conducting adaptive research trials on different crops in Research Farms and Farmers Fields for adaptability and use of bio pesticides/bio agents."

Two things follow from that sentence, and both matter for a reader deciding whether to bother with an application.

First, the scheme is institutional in the main. It funds the state's own research farms, soil laboratories and testing facilities. A farmer cannot draw a cash benefit from it.

Second, part of it does reach individual farmers directly. The department records the type of assistance and entitlement as "Training on Soil management, Providing Soil Health Cards, Conducting soil surveys etc.", and the pattern of assistance as "Adaptive research at farmers field". So a bonafide farmer can have a trial laid out on their own plot, can be trained in soil management, and can get their soil tested and receive a soil health card.

Why does Meghalaya run its own crop trials?

Meghalaya's growing conditions do not match the plains, and they do not even match each other. The state runs from the wet southern slopes of the Khasi and Jaintia Hills to the drier Garo Hills plains, across a wide altitude range, so a variety that performs in one district can fail in the next. The Department of Agriculture's published thrust areas include promoting high-yielding varieties, preserving indigenous germplasm, and "systematic interaction with Research organisations like ICAR". Adaptive trials are how a recommendation gets tested before it is issued to thousands of farmers.

Soil work is the other half. The State Soil Survey Organisation, a separate but closely linked scheme head, exists for "identification, classification and also for documentation of the soils of the State into different groups according to their characteristics for future planning in agricultural production activity". Its data and maps, the department states, "can be availed by the public", a useful and often overlooked open-data resource for planners, students and NGOs as well as farmers.

Who can take part, and who cannot?

You can take part if:

• You are a bonafide farmer of Meghalaya engaged in agriculture, which is the eligibility criterion the department publishes for this head.
• You cultivate an identifiable plot that can host a trial or supply a soil sample.
• You are willing to follow the package of practices the research staff prescribe for the trial and to let them record the result.

You are also served if:

• You are a member of the public wanting soil survey data or maps. The soil survey head explicitly opens its output to citizens and development planners.

You cannot apply if:

• You are seeking a cash grant, an input subsidy or a machine. No monetary entitlement is published under this scheme head, and those benefits are delivered by other Meghalaya schemes.
• You are a private company, consultancy or research institution looking for project funding. This is a departmental establishment head, not a call for proposals, and outside bodies are not eligible for grants from it.
• You are not a resident farmer of Meghalaya, since the scheme is state-funded and its trials are laid out within the state.

What documents do I need?

How to apply for a trial, soil test or soil health card

1. Go to the Agriculture Development Officer of your Community and Rural Development Block or Agriculture Circle. The department's published route is that "Bonafide farmers can apply in plain paper through the nearest Agriculture Development Officer of a CD Block/ Agriculture Circle."
2. Write a plain-paper application stating clearly what you want. An adaptive trial on your plot, soil management training, a soil test, or a soil health card. Naming the service avoids your request being filed against the wrong head.
3. Attach your identity proof and land document, submit the application, and ask the office to record the date of receipt.
4. For a soil test, collect the sample as the block staff instruct. A sample drawn from one corner of the field or from the surface crust gives a misleading reading and wastes the test.
5. Wait for the research station or block staff to visit and lay out the trial, or for the laboratory to return your soil report.
6. Collect the soil health card or trial result from the block office when informed, and use the fertiliser recommendation on it for the next season.

How does selection work?

Farmers are selected on a first come, first served basis among bonafide farmers, which is the mode of selection the department publishes. Research farms and laboratories have limited capacity, so trial sites in a block are few and the date of receipt on your application decides your place. Applying before the season starts is far more effective than applying mid-crop, because a trial has to be laid out at sowing.

Where are the research stations and laboratories?

The department's soil survey head names District Local Research Stations and Laboratories at Shillong, Tura and Jowai, each headed by a Research Officer. The Directorate of Research, Training and Technology Induction is the parent directorate for research, training and technology work in the department, and it is listed separately from the Directorate of Agriculture on megagriculture.gov.in.

The department also maintains a published contact list for soil testing laboratories in Meghalaya, linked from the contacts section of the same portal. That list is the fastest way to find the laboratory that serves your district instead of routing everything through the block office.

Related schemes worth asking about

• Bio Control Laboratory and Pesticides Testing Laboratory; produces bio-agents such as Trichoderma and Trichogramma and distributes them free to bonafide farmers to popularise biological plant protection. Same plain-paper route through the ADO.
• Soil Health Card Scheme (SHC), the centrally sponsored programme listed in Meghalaya's scheme overview, which runs alongside the state's own soil card work.
• Seed Testing Laboratory — tests seed quality, a separate head in the department's list.
• State Soil Survey Organisation: survey, classification and mapping, with the output available to the public.

Why a request does not get taken up

• The block's trial sites for the season are already allotted. Capacity, not eligibility, is the binding constraint.
• The plot could not be identified because no land document or headman's certificate was attached.
• The soil sample was drawn wrongly and had to be rejected by the laboratory.
• The request was for money or material, which this head does not provide.
• The application arrived after sowing, too late for a trial that season.

Whom to contact

1. Agricultural Development Officer of your Community and Rural Development Block.
2. Sub-Divisional Agricultural Officer of your sub-division.
3. District Agriculture Officer of your district.
4. District Training Officer, Tura or Shillong, for soil management training.
5. Research Officer, District Local Research Station and Laboratories, Shillong, Tura or Jowai, for trials, testing and survey data.

The Directorate of Agriculture, Cleve Colony, Shillong 793003, phone 0364-2222460, email agri-meg[at]nic[dot]in, is the escalation point. Every service under this head, trials, training, soil testing and the soil health card: is provided without charge to the farmer.