Shillong, March 08: Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma today attended the valedictory function of the two day Stake Holders’ Workshop on Piggery and Poultry Value Chain at the State Convention Centre in Shillong.
Addressing the gathering the Chief Minister said that it has been the government’s top priority to improve the overall ecosystem for the farmers of the State.
He informed that the government has initiated steps to lend necessary support to farmers through skill development programs, special projects, infrastructure development and provide training to further improve farming practices in the State.
Talking about huge opportunities in the farming sector the Chief Minister said that along with Agri-Processing, Meat Processing was one sector that would see exponential growth in the region in the coming years.
“The total consumption of pork in the North Eastern Region is 3.1 lakh Metric Tonnes and the total supply is only 1.2 Metric Tonnes. There is a deficit of about 1.9 lakh Metric tonnes. This is an opportunity for our farmers, to fill the deficit in the supply chain. Investing in piggery will greatly improve the livelihood options of the 1.62 Lakh farming households directly engaged in rearing pigs in the State”, he said.
Stating that Promotion of nano and micro enterprises is a key strategy for employment generation and fostering growth, the Chief Minister said that the government is working to set up an ecosystem that will provide the whole range of services needed by aspiring entrepreneurs.
‘We understand that access to credit is a fundamental challenge in the state and we are in the process of setting up a fund for promotion of Livelihoods and Nano Enterprises with a corpus of Rs. 10 Crore. The fund will provide both small grants and soft loans thus enabling entrepreneurs to access larger sums from the formal banking system’, he said.
The Chief Minister also told the gathering that SMART village project is another new initiative that has been approved by the Government. He further informed that the Government is entering into an MoU with the University of Berkley, California to provide technology support for developing Smart Villages in the state and has proposed an allocation Rs. 11 Crores for the same.
