The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Medavakkam Uzhavar Sandhai to open in a couple of weeks

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Sunday, Nov 16, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Medavakkam Uzhavar Sandhai to open in a couple of weeks

K. Manikandan

Photo: A. Muralitharan

Nearly ready: The ‘Uzhavar Sandhai’ in Medavakkam near Tambaram. —

TAMBARAM: Seven years after the first Uzhavar Sandhai (farmers’ market) was opened in the southern suburbs of Chennai at Pallavaram, this part of the city is all set to get the second such facility at Medavakkam near Tambaram.

The Rs. 22.5 lakh-project near the Medavakkam junction is nearing completion and is likely to be inaugurated in a couple of weeks, officials of the Kancheepuram district administration said.

Detailing further, they said around 60 farmers were selected and they would be receiving identity cards to use the 24 shops at Uzhavar Sandhai.

Farmers cultivating melons, ladies finger, drumstick, brinjal, gourd and beans varieties and green leafy vegetables would be able to sell them directly to their customers and thereby get a better profit margin than they might if they sold their produce through middlemen to wholesale and retail markets.

Farmers from Medavakkam, Jalladampettai, Pallikaranai, Sithalapakkam, Perumbakkam and Vengaivaasal would benefit when the market is opened.

Unlike other Uzhavar Sandhais, the one at Medavakkam would have five shops for women self-help groups to sell food products made by them.

Huge potential

The potential for an encouraging response was huge considering that the market was located in the midst of several residential localities. Medavakkam is already a commercial hub and is very close to Rajiv Gandhi Salai (IT Corridor) where the requirement of vegetables was phenomenal from industrial caterers.

The price of locally cultivated vegetables would be lower by more than a minimum of 15 per cent compared to the open market. But the prices of tomato, onion, potato and other vegetables grown in the hilly areas would not be as competitive. Both the district administration and the Agriculture Department were motivating Farmers Interest Groups and Women Self Help Groups to tie up with cultivators in different areas to procure such vegetables at the “farm gate” itself.

They expected to sell about 4 tonnes of vegetables every day initially and if vegetables grown on hilly areas were also made available, the daily sales would increase by another 50 per cent.

The Uzhavar Sandhai at Pallavaram initially sold close to 10 tonnes everyday, but was selling only about 6 tonnes now owing to many factors, including the mushrooming of many wholesale supermarkets and departmental stores selling farm fresh vegetables at competitive rates.

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