The Horticorp and Horticulture Mission have joined hands to allay fears of Onam celebrations being hit by a severe shortage of vegetables.
The two entities will ensure that people of the city get all essential vegetables at their doorsteps at least two days in advance to help them get their ‘Onasadya’ ready.
Residents’ associations
According to Horticorp Managing Director K. Prathapan, who is also the director of the State Horticulture Mission, residents’ associations are being roped in to see that this effort pays results.
All vegetables required for Onam will be made available for the associations about two to three days in advance, so that they could in turn sell them to the residents.
The Horticorp will ensure that the sales are at prices 30 per cent less than those prevailing in the open market.
Efforts are already on to procure as much vegetables as possible from farmers inside the State with a team led by Mr. Prathapan reaching Munnar on Sunday. Procurement will be done from areas including Munnar, Vattavada, Marayur, and Kanthalloor.
Arrangements are also in place with farmers outside the State for direct procurement in case of any shortage, Mr. Prathapan says.
The capital city will also have 20 mobile units of the Horticorp, including the ‘Haritha’ mobile grocery units, making more rounds and for longer durations in the day for the festival. These are apart from the Onam bazaar already functioning at Palayam.
Supplyco stalls
“Apart from the Onam bazaars that we have opened, there will be more stalls set up in association with the Supplyco as well. Metro stalls are coming up in cities and we are thinking of setting up stalls at the block panchayat level as well,” Mr. Prathapan says.
Procurement centre
In the State capital, a 20,000-sqft procurement centre is in its finishing stages of construction at the World Market in Anayara. It was completed in a record time after the work was launched less than two months ago.
The procurement centre will be launched by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy in the first week of September.
The centre is expected to help the capital district tackle any shortage of vegetables and also to help farmers here to sell their produce.
