Farmers and farmer producer organisations (FPOs) will be able meet part of Delhi's demand of 15,000 tonnes of vegetables a day after the Delhi Agriculture Produce Market (APMC) Act is amended, said Pravesh Sharma, MD of the Small Farmers' Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC), a society under the department of agriculture. SFAC is already preparing to launch the mandi in the capital. "We will provide a platform — over 25,000 sq feet to sell produce directly to consumers, both wholesale and retail," he said.
Retail chains said the move would help them procure good quality vegetables but traders were confident the initiative would not work as it would be difficult to match the established mandis, which provide loans to farmers and allow retailers to make payments after a few weeks.
For the new market, the government is looking at possible locations such as a Nafed godown and Cold Storage at Lawrence Road and sites of the Delhi Milk Scheme (DMS) at Shadipur and Alipur.
In the first phase, the mandi is targeting participation of 25-30 FPOs and growers associations. Initially onions, potato, lemons, banana, apples will be sold followed by fresh green vegetables.
The mandi is expected to give both dry and cold storage space to each allottee, apart form logistics handling facilities. "In the first six months we should be able to sell 1,000 tonnes of fruits and vegetables which will represent 6% of the current market," said Sharma.
The government has promoted over 300 FPOs with over five lakh farmers across the country whose members are farmers and grassroots institutions, which provide collective bargaining power to small and marginal farmers.
We are also exploring to sell fruits and vegetables through the network of 500 DMS booths. Further, the Delhi government has allowed us to sell onion and potato through 1,000 fair price shops in Delhi-NCR," said Sharma, who felt the organised retail network could help kee ......
