Tuber Crops (Potato, Tapioca, Colocasia) Scheme

What is the Tuber Crops Scheme in Meghalaya?

Tuber Crops (Potato, Tapioca, Colocasia) Scheme is a State Plan scheme of the Department of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare, Government of Meghalaya, implemented through the Directorate of Horticulture. According to the departmental scheme page, its objective is "to boost up production and productivity of potato per unit area by providing quality HYV seeds, equipments at 50% subsidy", and to popularise and encourage the cultivation of tapioca, colocasia and sweet potato alongside.

The scheme matters because potato is, in the department's own words, the most important cash crop of Meghalaya. The Directorate records that between 1990-91 and 2000-01 potato occupied an average annual area of 18,830 hectares, about 6.79 per cent of the total cropped area, producing an average of 157,240 metric tonnes a year at an average yield of 8,268 kg per hectare. Tuber crops in general are spread across the state: potato is grown extensively in East and West Khasi Hills, tapioca in Ri-Bhoi and the Garo Hills, and sweet potato throughout Meghalaya.

Seed quality is the specific problem this scheme attacks. The department's crop profile notes that the varieties introduced from England, Up-to-date, Great Scot and Arran Consul, were all susceptible to late blight; that the Central Potato Research Institute at Upper Shillong recommended Kufri Jyoti in the 1970s; and that Kufri Jyoti's blight resistance has since broken down and its genetic vigour degraded, with Kufri Giriraj introduced more recently as a promising replacement. Subsidised access to fresh, high yielding variety seed is how the state tries to stop that decline.

What do you get under the Tuber Crops Scheme?

The pattern of assistance is a subsidised sale, not a cash transfer. In the Frequently Asked Questions on Agriculture Schemes published by the department in 2025, the pattern is stated as 50 per cent subsidy on tuber seeds, equipment and organic-based plant protection measures.

Three things are supplied at that rate:

• High yielding variety tuber seed, principally seed potato, and planting material for tapioca, colocasia and sweet potato.
• Organic-based plant protection measures, bio-pesticides and similar inputs used against late blight and other tuber diseases.
• Plant protection equipment, which the older scheme text records as pesticides and sprayers sold to farmers at 50 per cent subsidy.

A second limb of the scheme has no direct farmer entitlement. The departmental scheme page records that for the potato seed experimental farm at Upper Shillong, all inputs are provided for the purpose of multiplying breeder seed into foundation seed potato before distribution to farmers. That is departmental expenditure on the seed chain, marked "NA" against quantum of assistance for the individual farmer.

Who is eligible for the Tuber Crops Scheme?

You can get the benefit if:

• You are a resident of Meghalaya.
• You are a bona fide farmer engaged in agriculture, actively cultivating. The 2025 selection procedure specifically looks at farmers who are actively involved in the cultivation of potato.
• You possess own or leased cultivable land. The scheme as published on the departmental site sets the threshold at at least 0.2 hectares; the 2025 FAQ words it simply as "possessing own or leased land".
• Your land is suitable for tuber cultivation, which the department checks as part of scrutiny.

You cannot apply if:

• You are not a resident of Meghalaya, the scheme is closed to farmers of other states.
• You are a trader, seed dealer, agro-input shop or company rather than a cultivator. The scheme is a subsidised sale to bona fide farmers only.
• You hold no land at all, whether owned or leased, and cannot produce a headman's or Nokma's certificate that you cultivate.
• You want a cash grant. No cash is paid under this scheme; the benefit is a half-price sale of physical inputs, so an applicant seeking money is not eligible.

There is no published income ceiling, no age limit and no caste restriction attached to this scheme.

How to apply for the Tuber Crops Scheme

Application is offline only. There is no portal, no printed form and no fee.

1. Write the application on plain paper. Address it to the Horticulture Development Officer of your Community and Rural Development Block or Horticulture Circle, or to the District Horticulture Officer. Give your name, father's or husband's name, village, block, district, mobile number, the area you cultivate and exactly what you are asking for — seed potato, tapioca or colocasia planting material, bio-pesticides, or a sprayer.
2. Attach self-attested copies of the supporting documents. Residence proof, land document or lease paper, and a certificate from the village headman or Nokma that you are a bona fide cultivator of that village.
3. Submit the signed application with its enclosures at the nearest office of the Horticulture Development Officer of the C&RD Block or Horticulture Circle, or at the District Horticulture Office. Ask for an acknowledgement with the date of receipt and keep it.
4. Follow up before the planting window. Seed is issued seasonally and in limited quantity. Once the block confirms your name is on the list, collect the material from the notified point and pay the 50 per cent farmer's share against a receipt.

Who selects the beneficiaries and how?

Selection sits with the horticulture field staff, not with a committee at Shillong. The 2025 FAQ sets out three tests: scrutiny of the applications of farmers who are actively involved in the cultivation of potato, confirmation that the applicant is a bona fide farmer, and availability of suitable cultivable land. The older scheme text adds the operating rule that farmers are taken on a first come, first served basis, subject to the material available in that season.

Practically, that means an application filed early in the season stands a far better chance than one filed after seed has been allotted. Farmers in the Shillong plateau potato belt: whom the department describes as following the prescribed package of practices closely and adopting new seed and plant protection measures readily, usually apply well before the planting window opens.

How do you check the status of your application?

There is no SMS tracker and no online status page for this scheme. Status is checked in person:

• Ask the Horticulture Development Officer of your block whether your application has been entered in the beneficiary register and what serial number it carries.
• If the block has forwarded the case, ask the District Horticulture Officer whether the allotment for your block has been sanctioned and how much seed it covers.
• Keep the dated acknowledgement from step 3, it is the only proof of when you applied, and it is what settles disputes about first come, first served order.

Why do applications get rejected, and how do you fix it?

• No proof of land. The commonest failure. Fix it with a lease deed or a headman's/Nokma's certificate describing the plot and the area cultivated.
• Below the land threshold. Where the 0.2 hectare rule is applied, a smaller holding fails. Farmers sometimes combine a leased plot to cross the line. The lease must be documented.
• Applied after the seed was allotted. Nothing can be done in that season. Ask to be recorded for the next cycle and apply at the start of it.
• Not an active tuber grower. Scrutiny asks whether you actually cultivate potato. A field visit by the Horticulture Development Officer settles this, so ask for one rather than arguing on paper.
• Application sent to the wrong office. Agriculture Development Officers handle agriculture schemes; tuber crops sit with the horticulture wing. Resubmit to the Horticulture Development Officer or District Horticulture Officer.

When should you apply?

No last date is announced for this scheme, it runs through the financial year. The practical deadline is set by the crop calendar and by stock. Tuber crops in Meghalaya are grown in both the Kharif and Rabi seasons, so apply at least a few weeks before you intend to plant, and before the block exhausts its seed allotment for that season.

Where do you complain if something goes wrong?

Escalate in this order:

1. Horticulture Development Officer of your C&RD Block or Horticulture Circle, first stop for a missing acknowledgement, wrong quantity or a demand for more than the 50 per cent farmer's share.
2. District Horticulture Officer of your district, for delay, denial or any allegation of favouritism in the beneficiary list.
3. Directorate of Horticulture, Cleve Colony, Shillong 793003. Phone 0364-2227434, email hort-meg@nic.in.
4. The suggestions and feedback form on megagriculture.gov.in, which routes written complaints to the department. The Directorate of Agriculture at 0364-2222460 (agri-meg@nic.in) handles the wider department.

No fee is payable to anyone for being included in the beneficiary list. The only money that legitimately changes hands is the farmer's 50 per cent share of the cost of the seed, plant protection material or equipment, and that should always be against a receipt.