The Kerala State Horticultural Products Development Corporation (Horticorp) is on a massive expansion drive, preparing to set up 500 more outlets across and outside the State. It will also call for franchisees to run mobile vegetable units in all the 140 Assembly constituencies in the State.
Addressing a press conference here on Saturday, Horticorp chairman Lal Varghese Kalpakavadi said the corporation, for the first time in its history, had managed to procure and sell 5,800 tonnes of vegetables across the State during the Onam season. Of this, 3,480.35 tonnes were from farmers in the State. The total revenue during the Onam period, from selling about 15 varieties of vegetables, was Rs.15.42 crore, he said. The corporation, which had launched 16 mobile units during Onam season, expanded its procurement centres to nine districts as well.
Tapioca units
Tapioca processing units would be set up in various places to produce starch, glucose, and cattle feed this year itself, Mr. Varghese said. Vegetable cooling centres that were lying defunct for 15 years in Munnar and Palakkad would be reopened shortly. Horticorp was in discussions with the Railways to set up a vegetable supermarket in New Delhi. It was proposed to transport by rail about four tonnes of vegetables every day to the national capital.
The corporation had begun procuring vegetables from farmers in Idukki’s Vattavada and Kanthalloor panchayats, which would help the State tide over vegetable shortage during winter.
This would also help reduce the dependency on Tamil Nadu, apart from freeing the farmers in these areas from the “bonded farming” that they were presently engaged in with Tamil Nadu traders. Traders were paying them in advance now, ensuring that the entire vegetable produce from these panchayats went to Tamil Nadu, to come back to Kerala at higher prices. This system would be changed with the help of banks and with the Horticrop taking over procurement of the produce there, Mr. Varghese said.
Now, out of the 44 lakh tonne vegetables that the State required every year, only 8.25 lakh tonne was being produced within the State. The aim was to avoid middlemen and gradually increase vegetable production to self-sufficiency.
Honey production
There were proposals to launch a ‘Safe to eat Ethnic Vegetables’ project as well, which would see mobile units selling ethnic vegetables in major cities in the State. These would include yam (‘chena’), different varieties of amaranthus (cheera), jackfruit, drumsticks, papaya and so on. Modern honey production (apiculture) centres too were in the pipeline, Mr. Varghese added.
