Post Harvest Marketing Scheme

What is the Post Harvest Marketing scheme?

Post Harvest Marketing is a horticulture scheme head of the Department of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare, Government of Meghalaya, administered through the Directorate of Horticulture. According to the department's scheme page on megagriculture.gov.in, the objective is the "Creation of post harvest marketing infrastructure", and the pattern of assistance is recorded as "Creation of infrastructural facilities for post harvest marketing, Grading Units etc."

The problem the scheme addresses is specific to a hill state. A Meghalaya farmer growing pineapple, khasi mandarin, ginger, turmeric or off-season vegetables often loses value not in the field but in the three days after harvest: produce sits ungraded, unsorted and unpacked, is bought at the roadside at whatever the trader offers, and a good crop fetches an ordinary price. Grading and basic post harvest handling is the cheapest available intervention: the same crop, sorted into grades, sells at different and better prices.

The Department of Agriculture's published thrust areas name this directly, listing the improvement of "marketing facilities and marketing linkages" and the development of storage and market infrastructure in rural areas as state priorities.

Who is eligible for the Post Harvest Marketing scheme?

You can apply if:

• You are a bonafide farmer of Meghalaya engaged in agriculture.
• You possess owned or leased land of at least 0.2 hectares; about half an acre. This is the published floor, and unlike most Meghalaya farmer schemes it is a hard number rather than a general requirement of "sufficient land".
• You market produce that a grading or post harvest facility would serve.

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

• You hold less than 0.2 hectares, whether owned or leased. Farmers below that threshold are not eligible under the published criterion.
• You are not a resident cultivator of Meghalaya, since this is a state plan head.
• You are a trader, commission agent or transporter rather than a farmer. The scheme is built around producers.
• You are looking for a cash grant or a working capital loan. No rupee entitlement is published against this head; the assistance is infrastructural.
• The facility for your block has already been sanctioned to the number of beneficiaries it can serve for that year.

What documents do I need?

How to apply for the Post Harvest Marketing scheme

1. Identify the Horticulture Development Officer for your Community and Rural Development Block or Horticulture Circle. This scheme runs on the horticulture channel, so do not file it with the Agriculture Development Officer.
2. Write a plain-paper application with your name, village, block, the crop you grow, the area you cultivate and the post harvest facility you need, for example a grading unit. The department's published route is that "Bonafide farmers can apply in plain paper through the nearest Horticulture Development Officer of a CD Block/ Horticulture Circle."
3. Attach proof that you hold at least 0.2 hectares, owned or leased, along with your identity proof.
4. Submit the application and ask the office to record the date of receipt. Selection is first come, first serve, so that date is what fixes your position.
5. Be available when the block or district horticulture staff inspect your land and produce, and keep the receipts or records that show what you market.
6. Follow up with the District Horticulture Officer if you hear nothing for several weeks, since the file moves from the block to the district for a decision.

How does selection work?

Selection is on a first come, first serve basis among bonafide farmers who clear the 0.2 hectare bar. Post harvest infrastructure is expensive and lumpy, a grading unit serves a cluster, not an individual, so district offices tend to prioritise areas with concentrated production of a marketable crop. If your village has several growers of the same crop, a group of applications from the same cluster carries more weight than a single one, because it demonstrates the volume a facility needs to stay in use.

How do I get market prices and marketing information?

Post Harvest Marketing builds the physical facility. The information side sits under a separate head, Post Harvest Management and Agricultural Marketing Schemes, whose stated objective is the "Collection and reporting of reliable and accurate data on market intelligence and market sentiments for important agricultural commodities".

That head delivers dissemination of wholesale prices of agriculture and horticulture commodities via website and mobile SMS, and farmers avail it by registering online at www.megamb.gov.in, the Meghalaya State Agricultural Marketing Board site. Registering there is free and is worth doing regardless of whether your infrastructure application succeeds — knowing the wholesale price before the trader arrives is itself a marketing benefit.

For price and marketing queries the department names the Agriculture Marketing Officer, Directorate of Horticulture, alongside the District Horticulture Officer and the Horticulture Development Officer.

What if I want to process my produce instead?

Meghalaya runs a parallel head, Fruit Processing, for exactly that. Its stated objective is "utilisation of surplus fruit and vegetables and conversion of the same to marketable processed products like jam, jelly, squashes, thereby creating a market for fruit growers", and the department procures surplus fruit and vegetables from farmers for conversion into value added products. It also runs training programmes for fruit processing entrepreneurs, educated unemployed youth and housewives.

The eligibility bar is identical: bonafide farmers with owned or leased land of at least 0.2 hectares, and the application route is the same Horticulture Development Officer. A grower whose crop peaks in a short window and who cannot sell it fresh should ask about Fruit Processing at the same visit.

Why applications do not succeed

• Land below 0.2 hectares, or no document proving the area held.
• Filed on the wrong channel, submitted to an agriculture officer instead of a horticulture officer, which delays the file.
• No concentrated production in the area to justify a shared facility.
• The year's infrastructure allocation for the district is committed, which is a timing problem rather than an eligibility one.
• Applicant is a trader rather than a producer.

If the reason is timing or allocation, reapply at the start of the next financial year. Applications received early in the year face a queue that has not yet formed.

Whom to contact

1. Horticulture Development Officer of your CD Block or Horticulture Circle. The first and correct point of application.
2. District Horticulture Officer of your district.
3. Sectoral Officer, Department of Horticulture, for the scheme as a whole.
4. Agriculture Marketing Officer, Directorate of Horticulture, for market price and marketing information.

The Director of Horticulture sits at Cleve Colony, Shillong 793003, phone 0364-2227434, email hort-meg[at]nic[dot]in. There is no application fee for this scheme, and no agent is authorised to charge for filing it.