In an endeavour to reach out to the communities with essential supply of food items and ensure that farmers’ produce does not go wasted in this time of crisis, the ‘1917iTEAMS’, has been working in tandem with deputy commissioners of different districts of Meghalaya to ensure that vegetables and fruits are made available to the public.
The ‘1917iTEAMS’ is an initiative of the State Government that is working in the current crisis situation by procuring farm produces from the farmers and making it available to different parts of the State.
‘1917iTEAMS’ is functional for the last two years in the State, of which on Sunday they received the highest number of 717 calls on its toll free number 1917.
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The calls were with regards to procurement of commodities and purchase by vendors.
Farm produces from Laitjem and Mawkriah from East Khasi Hills were procured and distributed across different localities of Shillong under the supervision of Rangbah Shnongs.
Produces from Hajongopara under Betasing Block from South West Garo Hills were on Sunday distributed in localities of Tura in West Garo Hills.
1000 litres of ‘NaRi milk’ were also shipped to Tura from Shillong on Sunday, and the NaRi network of Tura has started home delivery of the milk.
‘1917iTEAMS’ have been activated across the State and is being rapidly up scaled to aid the Government in this crisis situation.
The existing in-house system that connects farmers to the market has aided the Government to quickly press the system for emergency duty,” chief minister Conrad Sangma said.
He said all possible measures are being taken to procure farm produces and the 1917iTEAMS will continuously engage with its listed farmers and will further step up its procurement and supply chain with its continuous engagement with administration and agri and horti departments.
The ‘1917iTEAMS’ has the mandate to provide statewide access for the farmers to the markets, while also enabling the farmers to network with experts, evacuate produce, connect directly with the markets and obtain the necessary agricultural information and expertise.