Agro mall selling fruits & veggies makes debut in city, more in offing

The present initiative, Gurav said, would see the coordination between the project implementation unit of the Department of Agriculture, called ATMA, and Transcool. While the officials of ATMA will help identify farmers and coordinate with them, Transcool will manage the transportation and sale of the wares. Also, the state government will help in identifying and getting land on lease for starting collection centres and opening of malls.

“Though the concept of shopping in air-conditioned malls has caught up, especially in the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) section, it is yet to catch up in the fruits and vegetables section. A survey shows the business of fruits and vegetables is often relegated to a small corner in the malls,” said Gurav. He also pointed out that farmers were often at the mercy of the traders and middlemen, while the absence of proper storage and handling facility made it important that fruits and vegetables were sold as soon as they were harvested. The farmer also has to pay the transportation, handling and other charges for his product.

In this model, the shorting and grading is done directly at the farm gate by officials of ATMA and Transcool. “After comparing the prevalent prices in APMCs, we quote a price which is Rs 2 more than the prevalent price. The farmer does not have to pay for transport or give any cuts to the middlemen in the process. Transportation of the fruits and vegetables are done in our refrigerated vehicles, so there is hardly any fear of wastage,” said Gurav.

At present, Transcool has tied up with 50 farmers’ groups in Satara to source their fruits and vegetables. The work of identification of the farmers’ group is done by ATMA, which also helps draw up a production plan. Gurav said all their vehicles were GPS tagged. “We have also tied up with the National Institute of Post Harvest Technology in Talegaon to train the farmers in handling and sorting of their wares,” he said.

In order to have transparency in the process, plans are afoot to make payment to the farmers through RTGS. At present, around 3-4 tonnes of product is sourced, which Gurav said would go up one business picked up.