Seed Farms Scheme, Meghalaya

What is the Seed Farms Scheme in Meghalaya?

The Seed Farms Scheme is a state-funded programme of the Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare Department, Government of Meghalaya, run through the Directorate of Agriculture. According to the Meghalaya government schemes portal, the scheme covers the "production of high quality seeds of cereals, pulses, oilseeds etc. and for raising Horticultural seedlings such as orange, coconut, arecanut etc. for distribution to cultivators". The portal records the scheme as state-sponsored with a launch date of 1 April 2013.

The Seed Farms Scheme is not a cash transfer. It is a supply scheme. The department maintains departmental seed farms across the state, multiplies seed and planting material on those farms, and then issues the produce to farmers through the district and block agriculture machinery. The department's Farmers Friendly Schemes booklet records the pattern of assistance in one line; supply of quality seeds to farmers, and the type of assistance and entitlement as subsidy sale.

Why the state runs its own farms matters. Meghalaya's cropping is dominated by small and marginal holdings on hill slopes, and commercial seed channels reach only a part of the state. Departmental seed farms give the Directorate of Agriculture a controlled source of true-to-type, disease-free planting material that can be issued at a rate below the open market, and a way to introduce improved varieties into blocks where no private dealer operates. The same farms also feed the department's demonstration and minikit programmes.

What the farms produce

• Cereals: paddy and maize seed, the two crops the state's grain programmes are built around.
• Pulses and oilseeds; seed for the pulse and oilseed area-expansion work.
• Horticultural planting material, orange (the Khasi mandarin is Meghalaya's signature citrus), coconut and arecanut seedlings, explicitly named on the state portal.

Who is eligible for the Seed Farms Scheme?

You can get seed under the scheme if:

• You are a bona fide farmer of Meghalaya engaged in agriculture. This is the only eligibility criterion the department publishes for the scheme.
• You hold sufficient available cultivable land for the crop and quantity you are asking for. The department's stated mode of selection is bona fide farmers having sufficient available cultivable land, on a first come first served basis.
• You approach the officer having jurisdiction over the area where you ordinarily reside — that is the rule the department's citizen charter sets for all its schemes and services.

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

• You are not a farmer, the scheme is closed to applicants who are not engaged in agriculture, however small the quantity sought.
• You are a seed trader, nursery business or dealer buying for resale. The scheme's purpose is distribution to cultivators, and licensed seed and nursery dealership is a separate licensing service of the same department, not this scheme.
• You have no cultivable land available for the season in question, since land availability is the selection filter the department applies.
• You are outside Meghalaya. Departmental farms serve cultivators in the state through the state's own block and circle network.

There is no published income ceiling, age limit, caste condition or holding-size cap for the Seed Farms Scheme. The department has not notified one, and none should be assumed.

What documents are required?

How to apply for the Seed Farms Scheme

1. Decide the crop, variety and quantity you need, and confirm the sowing window for your block. Seed farms issue seasonally, so an application filed after the sowing window has closed will not be met that year.
2. Write the application on plain paper addressed to the Agriculture Development Officer. Include your name, village, Block or Circle, the crop and variety, the quantity or number of seedlings, and the area you will sow. Prescribed forms, where the department has issued them, can be downloaded from megagriculture.gov.in.
3. Submit it to the Agriculture Development Officer (ADO) of your CD Block, there are 39 CD Blocks, or of your Agriculture Circle, of which there are 16. The department's citizen charter names the ADO as the first point of submission for agriculture schemes.
4. Attach your farmer and land proof, so the officer can record that you hold sufficient available cultivable land.
5. Follow up with the Sub-Divisional Agricultural Officer or the District Agriculture Officer if the Block does not respond. Meghalaya has 11 agriculture sub-divisions and the charter lists a District Agriculture Officer for each district.
6. Collect the seed or seedlings from the allotted farm or the Block office on the date the officer gives, pay the subsidised issue rate, and keep the receipt. The receipt is your proof of supply if the germination is poor.

Office hours for all these contact points, as published in the citizen charter, are 10.00 AM to 5.00 PM in summer and 10.00 AM to 4.30 PM in winter.

How much do farmers pay, and what is the subsidy?

The department records the entitlement as subsidy sale, the farmer pays a reduced rate, not the full issue price. Meghalaya has not published a single statewide percentage for the Seed Farms Scheme, and the rate is set crop by crop and season by season against the farm's costing. Do not assume a figure. Ask the Agriculture Development Officer for the current issue rate for the specific crop before you commit to an area.

For comparison, the department's related programmes state their rates openly: maize seed under the Maize Development Scheme is sold at 50 per cent subsidy, and paddy seed under the Sub-Mission on Seeds and Planting Material is issued at one acre per farmer with a 50 per cent farmer contribution. Those are separate schemes with their own rates and are quoted here only to show how the department normally structures a subsidy sale.

How to check the status of your seed application

The Seed Farms Scheme has no online tracker. Status is checked in person or by phone, in this order:

1. Ask the Agriculture Development Officer who received the application whether your name is on the block's indent list for the season.
2. If it is, ask which seed farm the allotment is drawn from and the expected date of issue.
3. If the Block has forwarded nothing, take the matter to the Sub-Divisional Agricultural Officer, then the District Agriculture Officer.

Farmers can also call the Kisan Call Centre on 1800-180-1551, free, from 6.00 AM to 10.00 PM daily including Sunday, for general crop and scheme information. The Kisan Call Centre is a national advisory service and cannot release seed or check a Meghalaya block's indent list.

Why seed applications get rejected or go unmet

• Applied after the season closed. Farms produce to a calendar; a paddy or maize indent filed after transplanting has begun cannot be served.
• Stock exhausted. Selection is first come first served, so a late application in a block with heavy demand is simply not reached.
• No proof of cultivable land, which is the department's stated selection filter.
• Applied to the wrong officer. Horticultural planting material is often routed through the Horticulture Development Officer and District Horticulture Officer rather than the agriculture side; ask at the Block which wing holds the stock for the item you want.
• Quantity out of proportion to the area declared, which the receiving officer will query.
• Applicant is not a cultivator, for instance a dealer seeking stock for resale.

Where to complain about the Seed Farms Scheme

The Department of Agriculture's citizen charter sets out a clear grievance route. Grievances may 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 headquarters in Shillong. Online grievances can be filed on the state government's grievance portal at mii.nic.in.

The headquarters address published in the charter is Cleve Colony, Government Fruit Garden, Shillong-793 003, with the Director of Agriculture on (0364) 2222460 and the email agri-meg@nic.in. The Agriculture Information Officer at the same address, on (0364) 2229127, handles scheme and publication queries.

No fee is charged for filing an application under the Seed Farms Scheme. The only money a farmer should pay is the subsidised issue rate for the seed or seedlings, against a receipt.