Meghalaya CM to disburse funds to farming communities

Meghalaya Chief Minister disburse funds to farming communities of specific areas.

Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma had disbursed funds a total worth of Rs. 1000 crore to different farming communities across the state which have been identified by the different welfare schemes including, “FOCUS”. CM Sangma has also confirmed that he would be holding a round of talks with Chief Minister Himanta Biswas for the inter-state development of trade and development of job security.

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The State Government has decided to provide an additional direct transfer of Rs 5,000 to every farming household in the state through the FOCUS + programme, he said, noting that FOCUS, or Farmers Collectivization For Upscaling Production and Marketing System, is the largest welfare programme for the benefit of 4.5 lakh farmers. CM Sangma had informed that with the help of FOCUS the government has been successfully able to identify around 18000 producer groups.

Speaking to the crowd in the South West Garo Hills area, he said the government has introduced FOCUS + to provide each farmer an additional Rs 5,000 straight into their account due to the success of the FOCUS programme and the favourable response from beneficiaries.

He also mentioned that the farming communities are very upbeat about the programme. FOCUS which was originally launched in 2021 has benefitted around 2.5 lakh people to date. It has been successful to link the farmers to the market directly.

Under the scheme, a FOCUS+ card and a cash transfer of Rs 5,000 will be given to homes under FOCUS+ as identification and family benefits. To receive the benefit, people would need to register with a producer group. This is an extra advantage from the FOCUS initiative for producer group accounts exceeding Rs 5,000.