VED demands Terminal Market for Vidarbha’s agri-marketing woes
Under the scheme of the Union Government, Ministry of Agriculture (National Horticulture Mission) one Terminal Market for agriculture produce was to be established at Nagpur, Nashik & Mumbai allocated to Maharashtra State. The GOM appointed Maharashtra State Agriculture Marketing Board (MSAMB) as the nodal agency to implement the project. The revenue land (40 hectares) was identified at Mouza Waranga, Tehsil Nagpur Gramin by MSAMB & the proposal was sent by Divisional Commissioner wide letter no, 9(4)/CR 23/10/kavi 264/10 dated 30/08/2010 to the Ministry of Revenue & Forests for allotting the land to MSAMB. It has been given to understand that the proposal is still awaiting Cabinet approval. Now, more than one year has passed but the revenue land has not been transferred to MSAMB, hence, the project work cannot start. While the construction work has already started for Terminal Markes at Mumbai & Nashik, it still remains on paper only in Nagpur. If the Terminal Market is made here, it shall give a tremendous impetus to agriculture in the region.
Devendra Parekh, President, VED, stated that VED Council is deeply concerned by the apathy of the GOM towards Vidarbha and urges the State Govt. to take up the matter on priority & at the earliest to establish the Terminal Market here for the benefit of farmers in this neglected region. VED urges Minister for Agriculture, Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil to expedite the Terminal Market and requests the Revenue Dept to transfer the land to MSAMB at the earliest.
It is an established fact that post-harvest losses in perishable fruits and vegetables are upto 30 to 40%. The National Horticulture Mission (NHM) was launched during 2005-2006 by the Govt. of India. The Terminal Market TM concept was conceptualized to give more remunerative returns to the farmers from NHM by reducing post-harvest losses of the fruits and vegetables of te farmers and reducing the involvement of middlemen.
According to this concept, TMs would be established in the big cities and these markets would be linked to the production areas by means of Collection Centres (CC). The perishable horticultural produce would be cleaned at the CCs and by removing the waste at the CCs it would be transported to the TMs. The TMs and the CCs would be connected by means of reefer vans thereby reducing post-harvest losses.
It is proposed that horticultural produce arriving in the TMs would be graded and by pre-cooling, it would be stored in the cold storage facilities. The produce in the TM would be auctioned by way of an electronic auction system. It is proposed that horticultural produce would be sold in the domestic market as well as would be processed.
Export of horticultural produce is also expected from the TM. It is proposed to establish modern marketing infrastructures like electronic auctioning facility, pre-cooling, cold storages, ripening chambers, grading and packaging facilities, processing units and other allied infrasturctures like banks, post offices etc.
TMs would be established in a Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode and would operate on a Hub-and-Spoke format wherein the TM (the hub) would be linked to a number of CC, i.e. the spokes.
The commodities to be marketed by the TM would include all perishables, including fruits, vegetables, flowers, aromatics, herbs, meat, poultry etc. Non-perishables could also be handled in the TM. However, the proportion of non-perishables shall not exceed 15% of the total through-put of the market. Similarly, the proportion of non-horticultural produce within the perishable commodities shall not exceed 15% of the total through-put of the market.
The objectives of the establishment of the TM would be to reduce post-harvest losses due to present marketing systems; to link the farmers directly to the markets and provide more alternatives to sell their produce and reduce the number of intermediaries; to use modern technologies in TM marketing systems and establish a cold chain with the help of private players, to bring transparency in the market transactions, to promote expert horticultural produce and to promote processing in the state. TM would be built, owned and operated by the selected Private Enterprise (PE) through a Competitive Bidding process.
Maharashtra has been a leading producer of traditional crops such as bajra and jawar, but its farmers are turning increasingly to non-agri vocations. Large variations have occurred in agricultural production due to the vagaries of nature, change in world demand and exploitation by middlemen, bank loans which they can’t repay when hit by crop failure etc. At such times they take recourse to suicides as a last resort. The Govt.’s help doesn’t actually do anything as preventive mechanism.
Then again, Vidarbha is an important emerging horticultural hub of the State. It offers tremendous potential for cultivation of fruits and vegetables and significant exports. Being a major horticultural hub and geographically centrally located place, Nagpur, an important market region, experiences maximum arrival of fruits and vegetables in the State, handling the second highest arrivals of fruits and vegetable commodities, around 4.32 lakh MT valuing Rs. 302.40 crore annually. The market receives agriculture produce not only from within the State but also from other States. Though Nagpur is an important market, producer-growers keep facing problems of a) inconvenient roads in and around the market, b) poor availability of power, c) depleting conditions of sheds, d) traffic congestion, e) unhygienic conditions, f) irregular supply of water, g) price fluctuations, h) poor price discovery, i) absense of security services in the yard, j) lack of space to stand during auctions, k) delayed payment and unauthorised deduction, i) inadequate storage facilities, m) absence of grade and standardisation practices, n) non-availability of pack house in nearby markets etc.
All these force him to leave agriculture and go for other vocations. This certainly calls for corrective measures and some alternative method for marketing their produce where again Terminal Market would be of immense help.
Realising the paramount importance of marketing problems faced by farmers in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, the Govt. has decided to improve returns of the farmers, enhance marketing efficiency, reduce wastage and post-harvest losses. Increase exports and foster competitiveness, ensure transparency, reduce intermediaries and create competition for quality produce, assure quality of produce and modernise operations with IT- Applications. This can be done by promoting a Terminal Market (TM) proposed to be constructed at Nagpur to handle the agricultural produce of the region.
The Terminal Market would endeavour to integrate farm production with buyers by offering multiple choices to farmers for sale of produce such as electronic auctioning and facility for direct sale to exporter, processor and retail chain network under a single roof. In adition, the market would provide a storage infrasturcture thus offering the choice to trade at a future date to the participants. It will offer a one-step solution that provides logistical support including transport services and cold chain support and facility for storage (including warehouse, cold storage, ripening chamber, storage shed), facility for cleaning, grading, sorting, packaging and palletisation of produce and extension support and advisory to farmers. Each of these services would be provided in lieu of a user charge.
The TM would operate on a Hub-and-Spoke format wherein the TM (the hub) would be linked to a number of collection centres (the spokes). The spokes would be conveniently located at key production centres to allow easy access and the catchment areas of each spoke would be based on meeting the convenience needs of farmers, operational efficiency and effective capital utilisation of the investment. The commodities to be covered by the markets include fruits, vegetables, flowers, aromatics, herbs, meat and poultry. Producers, farmers and their associations and other market functionaries from any part of the country may use the infrasturcture and facilities of the TM directly or though the collection centres. The TM can source the commodities from the entire State where the project is located and may extend its operations to the whole country, depending on the commodities handled there.
The TM will have 25 collection centres supported by 125 Farmers’ Associations, mandated to motivate producers – growers to visit the collection centres to avail of the benefit of alternative marketing arrangements. Each centre will have sufficient catchment area to help producers-growers and offer them alternative marketing arrangements. While developing these infrastructure and services at TM and collection centres proper care will be taken to have national / international standards.