Govt waiting to upscale natural farming

Staff Reporter

Shillong, Sept 22: Nearly 500 farmers have been trained and are practising natural farming in 25 villages even as the State government is waiting for the Centre’s approval to scale up the area under the natural farming in the state.

This was informed by the Minister-in-charge of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Ampareen Lyngdoh while replying to a short-duration discussion tabled by UDP Nongpoh MLA Mayralborn Syiem on the last day of the Assembly’s autumn session today.

Lyngdoh said the Meghalaya State Rural Livelihood Society (MSRLS) has initiated training on national farming across the state. They have entered into an agreement with experts from Andhra Pradesh and have established 18 farmer field schools and have also trained over 35 community resource persons (CRPs) who are further promoting and training farmers in their areas to practice natural farming.

She informed over 475 farmers have been trained so far, in natural farming and are practising the same in 500 acres across 25 villages. Under the program, MSRLS has also set up 380 multi-cropped kitchen gardens.

Lyngdoh also said that the department has submitted the annual action plan for natural farming to the Government of India for approval.

“If approved, the department will implement the scheme as per the National Natural Farming Guidelines and scale up the area under natural farming in the state,” she added.

Stating that organic farming is the other alternative which is being promoted at a large scale, the minister said currently, 32,000 ha is under organic farming and the government has plans to bring in an additional 50,000 ha by 2030.

“Much like natural farming, this farming system is also harmonious with soil and local biodiversity, increases productivity, is good for the health of the consumers and producers, and also fetches better remuneration for the farmers,” she said.

On the initiatives to promote organic and natural farming in the state, Lyngdoh said that the department is implementing the centrally sponsored Mission Organic for Value-chain Development – North East Region (MOVCDNER), under which 28 FPOs have been set up and are practising organic cultivation.

The Cabinet endorsed the Meghalaya State Organic and Natural Farming policy on January 11, 2023. This comprehensive policy aims to foster organic farming as a viable income-generating activity for farmers. It outlines crucial objectives, including capacity building, technology development and augmenting farmers’ income through training, value addition and market linkages.

She said the establishment of Meghalaya’s Natural and Organic Society for Livelihood and Innovation in Agriculture (MEGNOLIA) marks a pivotal step in our journey to being a leader in organic cultivation in the country.

MEGNOLIA will act as a dedicated entity, synergizing efforts across departments to propel organic and natural farming. This society is set to play a pivotal role in realising the objectives set forth in the state’s organic and natural farming policy.

The minister said while the state believes in the principles of organic and natural farming, we are also cognizant of the challenges faced by other North Eastern states that have taken drastic steps towards promoting organic farming.

Asserting that a blanket ban on the use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers puts farmers who are using chemical inputs at a disadvantage, Lyngdoh said, “Therefore the government’s approach is to first set in place systems that help farmers transition to organic and natural farming and simultaneously phase away the use of chemical farm inputs.”

“We are building the state’s capacity in the production of bio-inputs so that our farmers are not reliant on costly inputs from outside the state and don’t compromise on yields. This will ensure lower cost of production and thus farmers will be able to compete with in-organically farmed produce from outside,” she added.

At present the state has the capacity to produce over 70MT from 3 bio input plants and the same is being scaled up.

Through various extension services and state and central schemes, the farmers are being trained in good agricultural practices for natural and organic farming. The objective is to build the capacities of the farmers to transition and adopt these systems to agriculture without compromising on yield and quality of the produce.

Govt addressing shortage of doctors

Staff Reporter

Shillong, April 2: The state government is taking various measures to address the shortage of doctors in the state even as it will soon review the bond policy.

Minister in charge of Health & Family Welfare Ampareen Lyngdoh told reporters that the last recruitment was initiated through the Recruitment Board which was specifically constituted to quickly address the shortfall of specialist doctors across the state of Meghalaya.

“We are now going to readvertise this matter quickly,” Lyngdoh said.

The minister had recently informed the Assembly that about 397 new medical officers were recruited by the Board out of which 83 are specialist doctors. However, there is still a gap of 150 specialist doctors in the state, which is a cause for concern.

Lyngdoh also informed that the government is also sending doctors for short-term specialization programmes where doctors in CHCs and PHCs are duly equipped to deal with the more complex gynaecology or paediatric or even radiology matters.

According to her, there is a scheme of the government of India and two hospitals in the state – civil hospital, Shillong and Ganesh Das hospital – are now offering these courses to doctors and medical practitioners who have been on the job for many years and who are eligible to go for such kinds of programmes.

“(By) running these programmes, we will be able to quickly address the immediate shortfall of (doctors) in very important departments like gynaecology, paediatric, X-ray, and pathology. That is the mode we are adopting with the hope that at least ensure these specialists quickly get trained for a six-month programme and quickly go back to their places of posting and efficiently discharge their duties in those areas where there is a grave requirement of such specialists,” she added.

Meanwhile, the minister said that the government is yet to review the bond policy when asked on bonded doctors who refused to serve in the state.

“Several of these bonded doctors are now undergoing their PG programmes. Whether or not the government will increase the repayment in view of bonded doctors who do not want to work or serve the state of Meghalaya, we are yet to review that matter because if I am correct the review was done 3-4 years back. I will be looking at this to find out whether or not we still have to increase these bonds. I dont have the exact details of the amount of the increase in the bond but for sure we must ensure that that happens,” she said.

She informed that in the last recruitment, the government did employ most of the bonded doctors who applied for the vacancies of doctors in the state.

ALSO READ: IIM Shillong holds 14th annual convocation

On the other hand, Lyngdoh is of the view that “the doctors are in anyways clearing their NIIT examinations and are anyways proceeding for specialization in various PG hospitals and PG institutes then I think these kinds of situations or these kinds of doctors may be excluded from the purview of this bond.”

“Nevertheless, I am aware that this is an important agenda so that we may address the shortage of specialist, shortage of doctors in our facilities across the state and in the meanwhile the contractual doctors are in anyways been hired in the national health mission (NHM),” she said while adding that this is also helping the government to fill the gaps that are glaring there in the state of Meghalaya.

Further, the minister informed that the state government is now preparing to focus on tertiary treatments.

“We would like now to make sure that at least 10-13 big hospitals in various hospitals get upgraded to the best facilities so that these tertiary care centres will to a large extent address the problem of patients having to travel outside the state to avail higher facilities from hospitals to treat their various ailments. This is something which is going to be done in a big way and we are accessing several funding sources. We would like to see the state of Meghalaya progressing productively in the health sector,” she asserted.