Horticultural Producers’ Co-operative Marketing and Processing Society Ltd. (HOPCOMS), which supplied fresh vegetables to thousands of households over the last five decades, seems to be losing ground in the burgeoning Bengaluru market.
In the last decade-and-a-half, the procurement of vegetables and fruits has come down by a massive 60 per cent.
Farmers have also turned their back on the society, which was formed for their benefit. And the arrival of retail vegetable chains has caused a dent on the HOPCOMS fortune.
Documents with The Hindu revealed that from nearly 34,000 tonnes of fruits and vegetables handled in 1997–98, HOPCOMS handled only 20,726 tonnes during 2013–14, a drop by around 60 per cent. The average number of farmers selling their produce came down from 361 to 186 during the same period. The daily average procurement came down from a peak 95 tonnes in 1997–98 to 57.78 tonnes last year.
Acknowledging the steep fall, Managing Director of HOPCOMS Kadire Gowda said that farmers preferred to sell their produce to the four retail majors that have set up procurement systems and are offering higher prices. “Though the number of retail outlets of private players in the city is few, they have a centralised procuring system, which picks up vegetables from around 10 collection centres in the area with the least prices for sale across the country.”
While the number of HOPCOMS retail outlets in Bengaluru Urban, Bengaluru Rural, Kolar, Ramanagaram and Chickaballapur districts has increased from 254 in 1997 to 276 currently, Mr. Gowda admitted that only 120 outlets reported good business.
Farmers, meanwhile, blame the society for having turned unfriendly.
K. Srinivas Gowda, a mango grower in Srinivasapura, countered that the downward spiral of HOPCOMS started even before the entry of private players. “We were given godowns to store our produce for free. However, we were forced to pay commission to godown keepers. On-the-spot cash payment was also scrapped. Profitability for a farmer to sell his produce to HOPCOMS had come down,” he alleged.
HOPCOMS Chairperson H.K. Nagaveni refused to comment on the issue.
