Reported by Bit Irom
Imphal: Farmers in the state, under the aegis of the Loumee Apunba Lup (LALUP), Thoubal, have accused the Manipur government of deceiving them under the Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanisation (SMAM) scheme and demanded a probe into the matter.
LALUP president W. Gojen, in a statement, alleged that the state Agriculture Department has been deceiving farmers by inviting fresh applications under the SMAM scheme without announcing the beneficiary list from the previous application process conducted in December last year.
He also appealed to the concerned authorities to intervene in the matter and address the grievances and inconveniences being faced by farmers.
The allegation followed an invitation by the Agriculture Department for applications from farmers across the state in December 2025 for the procurement of various agricultural machinery and equipment, including power tillers, rotavators, drones, mini rice mills, rice reapers, and threshing machines under the SMAM scheme.
Several farmers from across the state, including more than 1,000 farmers from Thoubal and Kakching districts, submitted applications through district agriculture offices, with the submission deadline fixed for December 25, 2025. The application forms were sold at Rs 200 each.
A district-level committee meeting chaired by the Deputy Commissioner of Thoubal was convened on December 30 for the selection of beneficiaries.
LALUP further claimed that the final list of selected beneficiaries prepared by the district-level committee was reportedly submitted to the Director of the Agriculture Department on December 31, 2025.
However, the beneficiary list has not been announced to date; instead, a fresh application process has been initiated again, with forms priced at Rs 200 each.
In a separate development, Peter Salam, Director of the Agriculture Department, in an official statement, said that in preparation for the upcoming Kharif season, the department had distributed around 1,10,000 bags of fertilisers during the previous year.
Additionally, about 1,80,000 bags were distributed to farmers across the state.
At present, around 1,00,000 bags of fertilisers are available in departmental godowns. The department is also planning to procure an additional 70,000 to 80,000 bags over the next three to four months.
To facilitate easy access for farmers, around 150 distribution points have been set up across the state, along with door-to-door distribution initiatives.
The department has assured that adequate quantities of fertilisers will be made available to all farmers for the upcoming Kharif season.