Development of Strawberry Cultivation, Meghalaya

What is the Development of Strawberry Cultivation scheme in Meghalaya?

Development of Strawberry Cultivation is a state scheme of the Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare Department, Government of Meghalaya, implemented through the Directorate of Horticulture. The department lists it in its Farmers Friendly Schemes booklet alongside the other crop-specific horticulture programmes it runs for the state's growers.

According to the department's own scheme entry, the objective is "to provide farmers with quality and improved varieties of strawberry planting materials so as to encourage area expansion under this crop such that commercialisation horticulture under this crop is achieved." Three ideas are packed into that sentence, and they explain how the scheme behaves on the ground:

• Quality planting material. Strawberry is propagated from runners, not seed. Runners carried over from a farmer's own beds degenerate quickly and pick up virus load, so yields fall year on year. The scheme's core job is to put clean, improved-variety runners into growers' hands.
• Area expansion. Meghalaya's strawberry area is small and concentrated in pockets of Ri-Bhoi, East Khasi Hills and the Shillong periphery. The scheme is written to widen that area rather than to deepen support for existing growers.
• Commercialisation. The scheme is aimed at growers who will sell the fruit, not at kitchen gardens. That is why it also funds mulching and drip irrigation, which are commercial-bed inputs.

Strawberry suits Meghalaya's climate unusually well. The state's cool sub-tropical highlands, high rainfall and acidic soils give a long fruiting window, and Shillong-grown strawberry reaches the Guwahati market ahead of most mainland supply. The scheme exists to convert that natural advantage into planted acreage.

Who is eligible for the strawberry cultivation scheme?

You can apply if:

• You are a bona fide farmer of Meghalaya engaged in agriculture. Meghalaya line departments normally accept a certificate from the Village Headman, Nokma or Sordar as proof of residence and occupation.
• You possess own or leased land of at least 200 square metres. This is the scheme's single published numeric criterion, and leased land counts.
• You intend to grow strawberry on that plot in the coming season.

You cannot apply, or are not eligible, if:

• Your holding is below 200 square metres. There is no relaxation published for any category.
• You cannot show any land document or lease, since the receiving officer has no other way to verify the area threshold.
• You are not a bona fide farmer of Meghalaya. The scheme is state-funded and restricted to the state's own growers.
• You are applying as an institution, trader or nursery rather than as a cultivating farmer. The published eligibility names bona fide farmers engaged in agriculture, and the entitlement is framed around production of strawberry fruit.

Note how low the land bar is. Most Meghalaya horticulture schemes, spices, plant protection, orchards; set the floor at 0.2 hectares, which is 2,000 square metres. Strawberry is set ten times lower at 200 square metres, roughly a plot of 20 metres by 10 metres. That is deliberate: strawberry is a high-density, high-value bed crop, and a family can run a commercially useful bed on a fraction of an acre.

What does the strawberry scheme actually give you?

The Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare Department records the pattern of assistance as assistance to the selected government-run farm, plus a scale of 50 per cent subsidies to the strawberry spokes. Under the type of assistance and entitlement, three separate items are listed, each at 100 per cent assistance to the selected beneficiaries:

Three points are worth understanding before you apply.

First, the assistance is in kind, not in cash. The department buys the runners, the mulching film and the drip sprayers and supplies them. No per-farmer rupee ceiling is published in the scheme document, so do not expect a fixed amount to be credited to your bank account.

Second, the words "selected beneficiaries" do real work. The 100 per cent figure applies to farmers who have been selected. Selection is first come first serve and is limited by the year's budget and by the runner stock the hub farm has produced.

Third, the hub and the spokes are funded differently. The government-run farm that multiplies the runners receives direct assistance. The strawberry spokes; grower clusters attached to that hub, are supported on a 50 per cent subsidy scale. Individual selected beneficiaries receive the three 100 per cent items listed above. If an officer quotes you 50 per cent for something, ask whether you are being treated as a spoke or as a selected beneficiary.

Mulching and drip irrigation are not incidental extras. Strawberry fruit that touches wet Meghalaya soil rots within days, so black plastic mulch is what makes the crop marketable, and drip keeps water off the fruit and crown. A grower who takes the runners but skips the mulch usually loses a large share of the harvest.

How to apply for the Development of Strawberry Cultivation scheme

1. Confirm the scheme is running this year. Call or visit your District Horticulture Officer and ask whether Development of Strawberry Cultivation has a budget provision for the current financial year and whether runner stock is expected. The department's booklet carries an explicit disclaimer that continuation of a scheme in any year is at the discretion of the State Government.
2. Assemble your land proof. You need a document showing at least 200 square metres of owned or leased land. A patta, land record or a lease deed with the area stated. Add a bona fide farmer certificate from your Village Headman, Nokma or Sordar.
3. Write the plain-paper application. Address it to the Horticulture Development Officer of your CD Block or Horticulture Circle. State your name, village, block, district, contact number, the plot area in square metres, the number of runners you are asking for, and whether you also need mulching film and drip irrigation sprayers. Attach the land proof and the headman's certificate.
4. Submit it in person and get it recorded. Hand the application over at the block or circle office during working hours and ask for the diary or receipt number. Because selection is first come first serve, the date your application is booked is the date that matters. Keep a photocopy with that number written on it.
5. Follow up before the planting window. Ask the Horticulture Development Officer whether your name has gone into the block's indent for the season, and ask the District Horticulture Officer which farm your runners will be drawn from.

There is no online form, no portal login and no SMS acknowledgement for this scheme. The plain-paper route through the block horticulture office is the entire official process.

Who to contact about the strawberry scheme

The scheme document names three contact points, in escalating order:

1. Horticulture Development Officer of the CD Block or Horticulture Circle — your first point of contact and the officer who receives the application.
2. District Horticulture Officer; holds the district allotment, decides which farm supplies your runners and confirms whether the scheme is active.
3. Sectoral Officer, Department of Horticulture. The state-level officer for this crop.

Above these sits the Director of Horticulture, Cleve Colony, Government Fruit Garden, Shillong-793 003, on (0364) 2227464, email hort-meg@nic.in. For general agronomy advice on strawberry, bed preparation, spacing, fruit rot, the Kisan Call Centre on 1800-180-1551 is free and answers from 6.00 AM to 10.00 PM every day including Sunday.

How to check the status of your strawberry application

No online tracker exists. Follow this order:

1. Ask the Horticulture Development Officer who received your application whether it has been entered in the block's seasonal indent, quoting your diary number.
2. Ask the District Horticulture Officer how many beneficiaries the district has been sanctioned this year and where you stand in the first come first serve queue.
3. If the district office says stock is exhausted, ask to be carried into the next season's indent in writing, so your position is recorded.

Why strawberry applications get rejected

• Holding below 200 square metres, which fails the only numeric test the scheme sets.
• No land document attached, so the receiving officer cannot verify the area at all. This is the commonest reason a plain-paper application dies quietly.
• Applied to the agriculture wing instead of the horticulture wing. Strawberry sits with the Directorate of Horticulture, and an application handed in at an agriculture office may never be forwarded.
• Applied after the runner supply was committed. Selection is first come first serve, and a season's runner production at the hub farm is finite.
• Applied outside the planting window. Strawberry runners are planted in the autumn months and cannot be held in store until a later request.
• The scheme has no provision in the current year's budget, which the department's disclaimer expressly allows for.

Grievance redressal for this scheme

The Department of Agriculture's citizen charter allows a grievance to be given in writing to the concerned District Agricultural Officer during office hours, or directly to the Director of Agriculture or the Director of Horticulture at the Shillong headquarters. Because Development of Strawberry Cultivation is a horticulture scheme, the Director of Horticulture at (0364) 2227464, email hort-meg@nic.in, is the correct addressee. Online grievances against a Meghalaya department can be filed on the state's grievance portal at mii.nic.in.

When you write, quote the diary number of your original plain-paper application, the block and circle it was filed at, the date, and the plot area. A grievance without those four details usually comes back asking for them.

No fee is payable at any stage of this scheme. Runners, mulching film and drip sprayers reach selected beneficiaries as departmental supply, and nobody is entitled to charge you for the material or for the application itself.