Shillong, October 9: International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) President Álvaro Lario began an official visit to Meghalaya on Friday to review the grassroots progress of the Meghalaya Livelihoods and Access to Markets Project (Megha-LAMP), with the first day focused on community-led agricultural enterprises and processing facilities in Ri-Bhoi district.
The IFAD delegation visited Umwang village, where it inspected the Umwang Pyllun Integrated Village Cooperative Society Ltd. (IVCS), a community-owned platform providing financial services, collective marketing and affordable farm mechanisation for crops such as pineapple, ginger and bay leaves.
During the visit, the delegation inspected the Custom Hiring Centre, Collective Marketing Centre and Agri-Response Vehicle, besides witnessing demonstrations of agricultural equipment. Lario also interacted with the IVCS Board of Directors, machinery operators and local farmers.
At the IVCS office, the IFAD President was briefed on banking services extended to members and later visited the cooperative’s warehouse. Addressing the gathering, Lario praised the community’s collective efforts and said improved road connectivity and warehousing had helped farmers market their pineapples more effectively.
The Umwang IVCS, supported by US$61,950 in IFAD financing, reaches 167 members from 105 households, with women accounting for 41 per cent of participation. The cooperative handles more than 120 metric tonnes of pineapple, 55 metric tonnes of ginger and 136 metric tonnes of bay leaves.
The delegation later visited the Eastern Ri-Bhoi Organic Farmer Producer Company Ltd. Prime Hub at Bhoirymbong, where Lario inspected a processing line for ginger and turmeric involving washing, drying, grinding and packaging.
During the visit, the IFAD President flagged off a consignment of fresh Megha-1 turmeric for export to Singapore, marking a significant milestone for local farmers and Meghalaya’s growing agricultural export ecosystem.
The Prime Hub, backed by US$3.12 million in co-financing, has been designed to reach around 5,500 participants and has a processing capacity of 10,000 metric tonnes annually. It operates through a hub-and-spoke model connecting collective marketing centres, warehouses and farmers’ markets with the main processing facility.
Community members at Umwang also shared how Megha-LAMP interventions had improved livelihoods. Women participants said that before the project, irregular incomes often forced families to borrow money for schoolbooks and children’s education, while collective pineapple cultivation and enterprise support had helped create more reliable earnings and local employment.
The visit highlighted the ongoing partnership between IFAD and the Meghalaya government in strengthening rural enterprises, market access and agricultural infrastructure while building long-term economic resilience in farming communities.
