Integrated Agriculture Training Centre (IATC) Scheme

What is the Integrated Agriculture Training Centre scheme?

Integrated Agriculture Training Centre, usually written IATC, is a state plan scheme of the Department of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare, Government of Meghalaya. According to the department's scheme record on megagriculture.gov.in, the objective is "training for enhancing skill of farmers besides imparting updated agricultural technologies to departmental functionaries", with "awareness programmes / trainings conducted periodically".

Integrated Agriculture Training Centre is funded by the State Government. The Meghalaya Government portal lists the sponsor as "State", the concerned department as the Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare Department and the beneficiaries as "Farmers".

The scheme has two audiences, which is what "integrated" refers to. On one side are farmers, who come for skill training. On the other are the department's own field functionaries. The Agriculture Development Officers, Block Technology Managers and extension staff who then carry the same technology out to villages. Training both at the same centre keeps the advice a farmer gets at a block office consistent with what the department teaches.

Its published entitlement is deliberately modest. The department records the pattern of assistance as "conduct trainings and awareness programmes" and the type of assistance and entitlement as "NA": there is no cash payment, no stipend and no input subsidy attached to this head. What IATC provides is knowledge, delivered free.

Who is eligible for IATC training?

You can attend if:

• You are a bonafide farmer of Meghalaya engaged in agriculture. That is the department's eligibility criterion for this scheme head, stated in full.
• You are a functionary of the Department of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare, the scheme explicitly covers updating departmental staff on new technologies.
• You approach the officer with jurisdiction over the area where you ordinarily reside, which is what the Citizen Charter requires for every scheme of the department.

You cannot apply if:

• You are not a bonafide farmer of Meghalaya and not a departmental functionary.
• You are looking for a stipendiary vocational course. Class X passed unemployed rural youths who own or lease agricultural land should apply to the Basic Agriculture Training Centre scheme, which pays a stipend of Rs 500 per participant per month and seed money of Rs 10,000 per participant, and where selection is on merit rather than first come, first served.
• You expect cash, seed, fertiliser or equipment from this head. The entitlement is recorded as NA. For inputs, apply under the department's separate heads: State Rice Mission for seed at 50% subsidy, Plant Protection including IPM for free bio-pesticides and 50%-subsidised sprayers, or Agriculture Engineering (Mechanical) for machinery hire at 60% subsidy.

Selection among eligible farmers is on a first come, first served basis. No income ceiling, age bar, education requirement, minimum landholding or category reservation is published for this scheme head.

What documents are required?

The department's Citizen Charter records that farmers may apply "in prescribed forms or in plain paper (if the prescribed form is not available)". For IATC the department's instruction is simply that farmers "can approach the nearest Agriculture Development Officer", which in practice means either a short letter or a walk-in that gets entered in the office register.

How to apply for IATC training

1. Decide what you want training in. Rice, maize, organic composting, post-harvest handling, pest management, naming a subject makes it far easier for the block office to slot you into the right batch.
2. Approach the Agriculture Development Officer (ADO) of your C&RD Block or Agriculture Circle. Meghalaya has 39 CD Blocks and 16 Agriculture Circles, so an ADO is within reach of most villages.
3. Give a short written request with your name, village, block and the subject, and ask the office to enter it in the register. Keep the entry number.
4. Wait to be called for a batch. Trainings and awareness programmes are conducted periodically rather than continuously, so there may be a wait until the next batch at your centre.
5. Follow up with the Sub-Divisional Agricultural Officer of your sub-division, or the District Agriculture Officer of your district, if no call comes. Both are named by the department under "whom to contact" for this scheme, along with the District Training Officers at Tura and Shillong.

There is no online application, no fee and no entrance test for IATC.

What kind of training does the department run?

IATC is one of several training routes the Department of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare operates, and its Citizen Charter sets out the shapes that training takes across the department:

• Capacity building services for farmers.
• Farmer Field Schools and Farmer Farm Schools, run season-long in a farmer's own field.
• One-day, three-day and five-day trainings, including specialised subjects.
• Short-term courses of three months and five months duration.

Alongside these, the department provides advisory services that a trainee can keep using afterwards: diagnostic and advisory support on crop pests and diseases, Soil Health Cards and soil testing for nutrient management, advisory on seeds, and advisory on current crop production technologies.

Because IATC's brief includes departmental functionaries, the technologies taught at the centre tend to be the ones the department is actively promoting that year, which makes attending a batch a reasonable way to find out what input schemes are about to be pushed in your block.

How does IATC differ from the department's other training schemes?

Meghalaya runs four training-related heads, and applying to the wrong one is the most common mistake:

Note the routes differ too. IATC and SMAE go through the ADO or Block Technology Manager; Farmers Training Institute applications go to the District Agriculture Officer, Jowai, and the District Training Officers at Tura and Shillong; BATC applications go directly to the Principal, BATC, and selection there is on merit and on the condition that the applicant owns agricultural land on which to start a farm-based activity.

How to check on your application

There is no online tracking for this scheme head, so follow-up is done in person:

1. Return to the ADO office with your register entry number and ask when the next batch is scheduled.
2. Ask the Sub-Divisional Agricultural Officer of your sub-division — there are 11 agriculture sub-divisions in the state, if the block has no schedule.
3. Write to the District Agriculture Officer of your district, or approach the District Training Officer at Upper Shillong, Tura or Jowai.

District offices are open 10.00 AM to 5.00 PM in summer and 10.00 AM to 4.30 PM in winter.

Common reasons a farmer does not get a place

• No batch scheduled yet. Trainings are periodic. This is a wait, not a rejection, and the register entry holds your place.
• The subject is not taught at your centre. Ask the ADO which subjects the centre covers this year before naming one.
• Applying to the wrong scheme. Unemployed youths wanting a stipend are applying to the wrong head; that is BATC, and it is decided on merit.
• Expecting inputs. The entitlement under IATC is recorded as NA. Seed, fertiliser and equipment come from other heads and need separate applications.
• Applying outside your jurisdiction. The Citizen Charter is explicit that applications go to the officer having jurisdiction where the applicant ordinarily resides.

Help and grievance redressal

• Director of Agriculture, Cleve Colony, Government Fruit Garden, Shillong 793003 to telephone (0364) 2222460, fax (0364) 2223228, email agri-meg@nic.in
• Agriculture Information Officer, Directorate of Agriculture, telephone (0364) 2229127, email aio-agri-meg@nic.in
• District Agricultural Officer of your district, in office hours
• District Training Officer, Upper Shillong, Tura or Jowai
• Kisan Call Centre: toll free 1800-180-1551, 6.00 AM to 10.00 PM daily including Sunday
• 1917 iTEAMS, dial 1917 free for agro-advisory and market information
• Online grievances. The state grievance portal at mii.nic.in

The Citizen Charter of the Department of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare states that grievances may be given in writing to the concerned District Agricultural Officer during office hours or directly to the Director of Agriculture at the Shillong headquarters. IATC training carries no fee, and no official or agent is entitled to charge for a place in a batch.