Hyderabad: The marketing department sending its officials to tell farmers in the districts surrounding Hyderabad to cultivate vegetables to meet the growing demand in the city.
Sent out by marketing department additional director G. Lakshmi Bai, the teams from Rythu Bazaars, especially estate officers, are telling farmers to grow unseasonal crops like Tomato-916, carrot and bitter gourd.
Besides, they are discouraging cultivation of similar vegetables by different farmers in the same village.
Erragadda Rythu Bazaar estate officer P. Ramesh said Hyderabad was getting tomatoes from fields to the west and south and gourds from the northeast. “Farmers from Shamshabad, Choutuppal, Uppal and other southeastern areas are supplying leafy vegetables,” Mr Ramesh said.
Farmers send the vegetables to the Rythu Bazaars closest to them, which was resulting in different demand driven prices. For example, farmers from Mominpet and Nawabpet near Vikarabad send tomatoes to Kukatpally or Mehdipatnam.
“The teams are motivating farmers to grow other vegetables to avoid losses,” Mr Ramesh said.
An official from the marketing department said the initiative could result in more vegetables reaching the city markets, which could help control prices.
The teams have gone out to Mominpet, Nawabpet, Shankarpally, Chevella, Tandur, Vikarabad, Shadnagar and Shamshabad in Vikarabad and Ranga Reddy districts, Shamirpet and Keesara in Medchal, Bommala Ramaram, Konda-madugu, Mailaram, Choutuppal, Bibinagar and Chityal in Yadadri Bhuvanagiri districts.
