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Meghalaya is basically an Agricultural State with about
80% of its total population depending entirely on Agriculture
for their livelihood.
In Meghalaya, summer is for a period of about 5 months,
from May to September, with torrential rains caused
by the South West Monsoon. Rainfall varies from place
to place and from altitude to altitude. The amount of
rainfall over Cherrapunjee and Mawsynram is quite heavy.
During the last two decades, it has ranged from 11,995
mm to 14,189 mm in Cherrapunjee and over Mawsynram it
was 10,689 mm to 13,802 mm. Nature in its generous abundance,
has bestowed Meghalaya a unique array of vegetation
ranging from tropical and sub-tropical to temperate
or near temperate.
The total cropped area in the State has increased by
about 42 per cent during the last twenty-five years.
Food grain production sector covers an area of over
60 per cent of the total crop area. With the introduction
of different crops of high yielding varieties in the
mid-seventies, remarkable increase in food grain production
has been made. A major break through was achieved when
High Yielding Varieties of paddy such as Masuri, Pankaj
IR 8 and other improved varieties series especially
IR 36 which is suitable for Rabi season, fitting in
the multi-cropping system have been widely cultivated
all over the feasible areas of the State. A spectacular
achievement was obtained when Megha I and Megha II which
are cold tolerant rice varieties developed by the ICAR
North East Region at Umroi near Shillong was released
in 1991-92 for the higher altitude regions where there
was no High Yielding Rice varieties at all earlier.
Besides the major food crops of
Rice and Maize, the State is also renowned for
its Horticultural crops like Orange, Lemon, Pineapple,
Guava, Litchi, Banana, Jack Fruits and Temperate
fruits such as Plum, Pear, Peach etc. |
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Potato, Ginger, Turmeric, Black Pepper, Arecanut, Tezpatta,
Betelvine, Short-staple cotton, Jute, Mesta, Mustard
and Rapseed etc. are some of the important cash crops
in the State.
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Apart from the above the State
have achieved signal success in the cultivation
of non-traditional crops like Tea, Cashewnut,
Oilseeds, Tomato, Mushr oom, Wheat, etc. |
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Today the State can claim that
about 42 per cent area under paddy have been covered
with HYV with the average productivity of 2300
kgs/ha. So also is the case with Maize and Wheat
where the productivity have increased tremendously
with the introduction of HYV from 534 kgs/ha during
1971-72 to 1218 kgs/ha of Maize and from 611 kgs/ha
to 1508 kgs/ha of Wheat. |
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New emphasis is laid on pulses, oilseeds and cash crops.
An autonomous board is set up to promote plantation
crops, pioneering work done in tea cultivation, with
the State having 253 small tea growers at present.
Marketing of agricultural produce facilitated by establishing
Secondary Regulated Markets and building rural godowns.
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