Stakeholder Analysis of Rongram Horticulture Hub, Meghalaya

Abstract

The introduction of horticulture hubs across the different districts of the state has been a major contributor to horticulture development in the state. The horticulture hubs functions on a hub and spoke business model forming horticulture clusters of individual farmers, self-help groups and cooperatives within an area of 10–15 km radius. The study was hence conducted in West Garo Hills district of Meghalaya to analyse the stakeholders of Rongram horticulture hub with the objectives of identifying different stakeholders of the hub, position of stakeholders based on their power and interest and to study the linkage among the stakeholders. Power-interest matrix was used for studying the position of stakeholders and Actor Linkage Matrix (ALM) was employed to study the linkage among the stakeholders of the hub. The results showed that the stakeholders of the hub belonged to four different categories viz., government, private, farmers and media and altogether eight stakeholders were identified. In terms of power and interest of stakeholders, the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers'Welfare (MoA & FW, GoI), Directorate of Horticulture (DoH, GoM), farmers, farmers’ coordinators and the hub itself were perceived to have high power and high interest as the key players. The actor linkage matrix revealed Directorate of Horticulture as the stakeholder having maximum linkages with other stakeholders of the hub. The role and linkage with media were almost negligible. Farmers, though are important stakeholders, were not having strong linkage with the key implementing agency. Interventions to strengthen weak linkages and also to augment the role of media for better promotion and to attract better market linkages are recommended.