Power Tiller Scheme, Meghalaya

What is the Power Tiller Scheme in Meghalaya?

The Power Tiller Scheme is how the Department of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare, Government of Meghalaya puts mechanical tillage within reach of hill farmers who mostly work small, sloping plots with hand tools and draught animals. It is not a single standalone notification but a benefit delivered through three connected departmental arrangements, all listed on the Meghalaya state portal:

• Supply of Agriculture Machineries, described by the department as the "distribution and sale of Agriculture Machineries such as Power Tillers, etc to farmers at subsidized rate."
• Agriculture Engineering (Mechanical), which exists to "provide hiring of power tillers and paddy reapers to farmers at 60% subsidy."
• Sub-Mission on Agriculture Mechanization (SMAM), which provides "50% financial assistance for procurement of power tillers, Rice transplanter, demonstration, training on post harvest technology."

A power tiller matters more in Meghalaya than the machine's modest size suggests. A four-wheel tractor is unusable on most terraced and sloping fields in the Khasi, Jaintia and Garo hills, and animal draught power has been declining for years. A walking tractor of the power tiller class is the largest machine that can practically work those plots, and it turns a task that takes a household weeks into one that takes days.

What the scheme is trying to achieve

• Reduce the drudgery and the labour cost of land preparation on small holdings.
• Let a farmer complete land preparation inside the narrow sowing window that a monsoon hill season allows.
• Bring machinery to households who could never buy a tiller outright, through the hiring route rather than only through ownership.
• Build up custom hiring capacity at block level so one machine serves many farms.

Who is eligible for the Power Tiller Scheme?

You can apply if:

• You are a bonafide farmer of Meghalaya. This is the eligibility term the department uses for all three machinery arrangements.
• You cultivate land in the state, whether under registered patta or under clan and village tenure certified by your headman.
• You are applying through the Agriculture Development Officer of your C&RD Block or Agriculture Circle, which is the prescribed route.
• You can meet the beneficiary share to 50 percent of the machine cost where you are buying under SMAM, or 40 percent of the hire charge where you are hiring a departmental machine.

Farmer groups, self-help groups and cooperatives that cultivate collectively are in practice accommodated for a shared machine, with the group naming a custodian member responsible for the tiller.

You cannot apply if:

• You are not a farmer and do not cultivate land in Meghalaya. The scheme is not open to general applicants.
• You are a dealer, trader or contractor buying a machine for commercial hire outside a departmental custom hiring arrangement. Such applicants are not eligible for the farmer subsidy.
• You are a farmer outside Meghalaya, even if you own land nearby in a neighbouring state.
• You have already received a subsidised power tiller and are applying again within the department's repeat-benefit interval. Ask your ADO what interval is being applied in the current year before you file.

How much does the scheme give?

The department does not publish a fixed rupee ceiling for the power tiller subsidy on the state portal. The ceiling depends on the horsepower class of the machine and on the year's SMAM norms, so ask your Agriculture Development Officer for the current year's approved unit cost and subsidy cap before you commit to a purchase. Treating the 50 percent figure as the reliable number and the rupee cap as year-specific is the safe approach.

Under SMAM the same 50 percent assistance also covers rice transplanters, and the sub-mission funds demonstrations and training on post-harvest technology, so a farmer visiting the ADO about a tiller should ask what else is open in the same window.

What documents do I need?

How to apply for the Power Tiller Scheme

1. Visit your nearest Agriculture Development Officer at the C&RD Block office or Agriculture Circle. Ask whether power tillers are being allotted in the current year and under which route — departmental sale, SMAM purchase assistance, or hiring.
2. Write the application on plain paper, addressed to the Agriculture Development Officer. State your name, village, C&RD Block, district, the area you cultivate, the crop you grow, and whether you want to buy a machine or hire one.
3. Attach your documents, identity proof, land record or the headman's certificate that you cultivate the land, and your bank passbook copy.
4. Submit the application at the ADO's office and take an acknowledgement or note the date and the receiving official's name.
5. Follow up on the block's allotment. Machines are supplied against an annual allocation, so ask where your name stands on the block list and whether the allotment for the year has arrived.
6. Complete the payment of your share when your turn comes, and collect the machine along with the supply papers, warranty card and operating manual.

How to apply for hiring instead of buying

1. Ask the ADO or the Agriculture Engineering (Mechanical) unit whether a departmental power tiller or paddy reaper is stationed in your block.
2. Apply on plain paper for hire, stating the area to be worked and the dates you need the machine.
3. Pay the 40 percent farmer share of the hire charge, the department bearing the 60 percent subsidy.
4. Book early. Every farmer in a block needs the machine in the same fortnight before sowing, so a late request usually misses the season.

Why applications do not result in a machine

• Allotment exhausted for the year. This is the most common outcome and not a rejection, the application usually carries forward.
• No proof of cultivation. A farmer who cannot produce either a land record or a headman's certificate is treated as not established.
• Beneficiary share not deposited within the period given after selection, in which case the machine goes to the next name.
• Repeat claim by a household that already received a subsidised machine.
• Application filed outside the block route, for example directly at the Directorate rather than through the Agriculture Development Officer.

Grievance and help

• Agriculture Development Officer of your C&RD Block or Agriculture Circle, first and most important point of contact for the machinery schemes.
• District Agriculture Officer of your district for allotment and priority disputes.
• Directorate of Agriculture, Government of Meghalaya, Shillong for policy and subsidy norm questions.
• stateportal-meg[at]gov[dot]in for queries about the scheme entries on meghalaya.gov.in.

Applications are accepted on plain paper and there is no application fee. No agent or dealer can charge you separately to get your name onto the block's power tiller list.