Organic Manures Scheme

What is the Organic Manures scheme in Meghalaya?

Organic Manures 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 "Providing hands on training at the village level on production of organic compost inputs such as compost for plant health management for sustainable agriculture."

Read that sentence carefully, because it defines the scheme precisely. Organic Manures is a training and extension scheme, not a cash or material subsidy. The department's own page records both the pattern of assistance and the type of assistance and entitlement as "NA": meaning no monetary entitlement is published against this head. What a farmer gets is the skill, taught in the village, to make compost and other organic inputs from material already available on the farm.

That matters more in Meghalaya than the modest scheme description suggests. The state's cultivation is dominated by small holdings, departmental figures record about 150,170 operational holdings with an average size of 1.50 hectares, and small and marginal holdings account for 82.57% of the total cropped area. For a farmer on that scale, buying chemical fertiliser is a recurring cash cost, while farmyard waste, crop residue and kitchen waste are free. Composting turns the second into a substitute for the first.

Why does Meghalaya push organic manure?

The Department of Agriculture lists organic cultivation among its published thrust areas for the state, alongside the "judicial use of fertilizers", the "extension of subsidies on both organic and inorganic fertilizers", and an explicit emphasis on "organically produced crops". Meghalaya markets several crops, ginger, turmeric, black pepper, pineapple, khasi mandarin — where an organic character carries a price advantage outside the state.

The department's organic agriculture pages describe organic farming as being driven from three directions at once: consumers who want residue-free food, service providers and certifiers who build the market, and farmers themselves who want to cut input costs and protect soil. Village-level compost training is the cheapest of the three levers the state can pull, which is why it exists as a standing scheme head rather than a one-off campaign.

Who is eligible for the Organic Manures training?

You can apply if:

• You are a bonafide farmer of Meghalaya engaged in agriculture. This is the eligibility criterion the department publishes, in exactly those words.
• You have sufficient available cultivable land. The mode of selection is recorded as "Bonafide farmers having sufficient available cultivable land on first come first served basis", so land you actually work is part of the test.
• You can attend the training session when your block office schedules it.

You cannot apply, or you will not be selected, if:

• You are not a resident farmer of Meghalaya. This is a state scheme funded from the state's own agriculture budget.
• You have no cultivable land available to you, whether owned or leased. The training is meant to be applied on a real plot.
• You are looking for a cash grant, a compost unit, or free fertiliser. No such entitlement is published under this head, and a plain-paper application asking for one will not produce it. Input support of that kind sits under separate crop development schemes.
• You approach a private agent who offers to get your name on a list for a fee. The training is free and enrolment is done by the block office.

What documents do I need?

How to apply for the Organic Manures scheme

1. Go to the office of the Agriculture Development Officer of your Community and Rural Development Block, or the Horticulture Circle that covers your village. This is the route the department publishes: "Bonafide farmers can apply in plain paper through the nearest Agriculture Development Officer of a CD Block/ Horticulture."
2. Write a plain-paper application stating your name, village, block, the land you cultivate and your request to be included in the village-level organic manure training. There is no printed form and no fee.
3. Attach a copy of your identity proof and your land document, and hand the application in at the office.
4. Ask the office to record the date of receipt and note it yourself, because selection runs on a first come, first served basis and the receipt date is what fixes your place in the queue.
5. Attend the training on the date the block office notifies. Sessions are conducted in the village, so you are not asked to travel to a district headquarters.

What is taught in the training?

The scheme's own description limits itself to "production of organic compost inputs such as compost for plant health management for sustainable agriculture", and no detailed curriculum is published on the departmental site. In practice a village compost training of this kind is a demonstration rather than a lecture: farmers are shown how to build and turn a compost heap from farm and household waste, how long it needs to mature, and how to apply the finished manure to the crops grown locally.

If you want a longer, structured course, the department runs separate heads for that purpose. The Basic Agriculture Training Centre scheme offers free short-term vocational training to educated unemployed rural youth with owned or leased agricultural land, and the Integrated Agriculture Training Centre scheme exists alongside it. Ask your ADO which of the three fits what you want.

Why does an application not get taken up?

• The block's training batches for the year are already full. Selection is first come, first served, so a late application waits for the next round.
• No cultivable land shown. The published selection rule requires it.
• The application asked for cash or material instead of training, which the scheme head does not provide.
• The applicant could not be contacted on the date the training was held.

None of these is a permanent bar. Reapply at the block office for the next batch.

Where do I get help or complain?

The department publishes four contact points for this scheme:

1. Agricultural Development Officer of your Community and Rural Development Block; first stop for enrolment and dates.
2. Sub-Divisional Agricultural Officer of your sub-division.
3. District Agriculture Officer of your district.
4. District Training Officer, Tura or Shillong, for training-related questions.

Above them sits the Directorate of Agriculture, Cleve Colony, Shillong 793003, phone 0364-2222460, email agri-meg[at]nic[dot]in. The Organic Manures training is free at every stage, and no fee is payable to anyone for inclusion in a batch.