Badal for wholesale marketing of fruits, vegetables in Punjab

CHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today called for the need to adopt world’s best practices of wholesale market management for the marketing of fruits and vegetables in the state to ensure remunerative returns to the farmers especially the small and marginal ones.

In his inaugural address at the first ever International Conference on “Wholesale Markets: Global Opportunities and Innovations” organized by the Punjab State Agricultural Marketing Board here at hotel Mount View, Badal suggested to formulate a common consensus group of wholesale market investors, developers, managers, operators and administrators to extend mutual cooperation besides developing marketing strategies to ensure maximum profitability of the fruits and vegetables growers through a well-knit wholesale marketing network.

The Chief Minister said that the cooperative system was the best option to facilitate the inter-state marketing of fruits and vegetables from Punjab in about 50 major cities across the country having big markets with each city having a population of over one million.

Badal pointed out this system provided better price to small producers by eliminating middlemen and reducing the transport cost. He emphasized the need to replicate the model of the Father of White Revolution late Dr. Verghese Kurien, who played an exemplary role to make India the world’s largest milk producer through its successful cooperative marketing network in India.

The Verghese model should now be followed, said Badal in other areas such as marketing of fruits and vegetables. He said that efforts were afoot to implement this model in Punjab urban areas like Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Amritsar, Patiala, Bathinda etc. At present fruits and vegetables were now produced and marketed though a cooperative network of over 250 farmer-owned retail stores in Delhi and underlined the need to further intensify efforts for assured cooperative marketing support to the farmers in a big way.

Divulging the farm diversification plans in the state, Badal said that the contribution of agriculture in the state’s income was gradually declining as the farmers were caught in the Wheat-Paddy rotation trap. The only way out was through diversification and improved marketing.

He said that the State Government had recently submitted a diversification plan to the Union Government for shifting 1.2 million hectares of area under rice cultivation to other crops like maize, cotton with a main focus on fruits and vegetables during the next six years.

Fruit and vegetable cultivation was a viable and remunerative alternative to existing crops. Kinnow was the principal fruit crop and potato was the most important vegetable crop in the state. He mentioned that the fruit and vegetable annual production was around five million tons in Punjab.

Badal said that time has now changed from old agricultural marketing approach to new business model through the application of advance technology and modern business concepts with ultimate aim to get remunerative price and to compete the produce in world market. He realized that the procurement of perishables like fruits and vegetables by government agencies was extremely difficult and Private Public Partnership (PPP) model was one of the solutions to ensure the marketing of these commodities in an efficient and result oriented manner.

The government of India has proposed a draft model legislation on “Agricultural Produce Marketing (Development & Regulation) Act 2003”, which provides for establishment of private markets/yards, direct purchase centers, consumer farmer markets for direct sale of produce and promotion of PPP in the management and development of agriculture markets in the country for which Punjab was already going ahead to amend existing legislation accordingly.

The Chief Minister revealed that the Punjab State Agriculture Marketing Board had undertaken a number of measures for the promotion of fruits and vegetables cultivation and setting up of the modern market infrastructure in Punjab with a network of 90 fruits and vegetables markets of which 20-22 were major ones to provide the post harvest facilities. He however, said that due to globalization and liberalization, agricultural market no longer implied a localized farmer market, rather it meant a national or international level markets.

Prominent amongst others who attended the conference included: Chairman, World Union of Wholesale Markets(WUWM) Torben Flinch, Vice-Chairman WUWM Manual Estrada-Nora Rodiguez, Secretary General, WUWM Ms. Maria Cavit, Chief Parliamentry Sectary Gurbachan Singh Babbehali, Financial Commissioner Development GS Sandhu, Chairman Council of State Agricultural Marketing Boards & Chairman, Pb. Mandi Board Ajmer Singh Lakhowal, Special Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Gaggandip Singh Brar, Secrtary Mandi Board Mohinder Singh Kainth, besides the Chairmen and Managing Directors and CEO’s of various markets of Europe and Asia.