Thiruvananthapuram: Horticorp is bringing back an idea-- micro-level crop planning-- introduced during the people’s planning process to ensure that farmers do not suffer from price drops due to market glut. It will decide which crop should be promoted in which area. This comes in the wake of the dramatic drop in prices, especially for vegetables like snake gourd, which do not have much demand.
Corporation MD Ranjan S. Karippai says, “by October or earlier, we will conduct a workshop to share the idea. We aim to conduct planning at block level. Tomato which is produced in Thrissur may move to Ernakulam, or snake gourd produced here may be sold somewhere else,” he said. In the eighties, the concept was put to practice in some places as part of people’s planning and was found to be successful. Later, it was not taken forward.
As an immediate measure, the corporation has bought the excess vegetables from farmers at a fair price and made them available through its outlets at the slashed prices, according to Mr Ranjan. Vegetables that are not sold in the market are being given away free to charity institutions, he said. Farmers grew excess vegetables in Palakkad, Charummoodu in Alappuzha and Neyyattinkara in the south of Thiruvananthapuram.
