Soon, MCG vegetable and fruit outlets in Gurgaon

Gurgaon: MCG, in collaboration with Farmer Producers’ Organisation (FPO), is planning to start around 50 outlets to be called ‘Haryana Fresh’ across the city, to make vegetables and fruits available at cheaper rates than the market price. This is expected to benefit both farmers and consumers, by cutting the role of intermediaries.
The outlets will directly procure vegetables and fruits from farmers and sell to customers, removing the middleman who are involved in the process.This is aimed at helping farmers get a better price for their produce and provide consumers fresh vegetables and fruits at comparatively lower price.
“The first 10 outlets will be opened soon at dedicated hawkers’ zones across the city,” said the MCG joint commissioner Vivek Kalia, adding another 17 outlets will be opened in existing Vita outlets in the city, while remaining will be opened independently. The cost of opening outlets will be borne by MCG.
He elaborated that usually, farmers gets very low price for their produce, as consumes pay a high price for the same product, while middleman make huge profit. For example this season, farmers got a pittance for onions, when they had to sale their crop for less than a rupee a kilo, while in the retail market, it was never less than Rs 20 per kilo.
Most vegetables sold in Gurgaon come from outside the city. Most of the procurement is from the Yamuna belt in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, as well as some areas in Uttarakhand. In Haryana, vegetables are brought from Sonipat, Karnal, Mewat and Panipat, while some vegetables, such as capsicum, are brought from Himachal Pradesh.
Farmers in Gurgaon, Mewat and adjoining districts working with FPO, will benefit most from the initiative. The vegetables and fruits will be procured by FPO directly from farmers and supplied to these outlets.
Suresh Yadav, who cultivates vegetables, said at present he sells his produce to wholesalers at the mandi at a price fixed by the wholesalers. “Wholesalers sell these to retailers at a higher price,” said Yadav, adding an initiative like Haryana Fresh will bridge the gap between cultivators and consumers.
Welcoming the move, Sapna Mishra, resident of Sector 14, said through these outlets, residents should be able to buy fresher vegetables and fruits at reasonable rates. “Supermarkets and stores will also be forced to follow this model, which should break the monopoly of wholesalers over the price of vegetables and fruits,” said Mishra.