India: Govt. program for production of export vegetables
The selected districts are Satara, Thane, Palghar, Jalgaon, Nashik, Latur and Beed from where 3,120 farmers will be roped in for dedicated exportable vegetable cultivation on 3,120 hectares. Unless there is sufficient size and quantity of produce, export cannot take place, said Vijay Deshmukh, state agriculture commissioner.
As per the policy document, the government is expecting production of 21,145 tonne vegetables which will be purchased by the exporters. The Rs 21.65 crore plan will get Rs 3.36 crore from the Rashtriya Krushi Vikas Yojana, Rs 1.14 crore from Centre's other agricultural schemes, Rs 11.92 crore as initial investment from private players, and Rs 4.9 crore from farmers.
The identified crops include green chilies, lady finger and sweet gourd, among others. A couple of farmer groups in Thane district that are already producing cluster beans for the past few years, which are directly purchased by US-based companies. These purchases are for industrial purpose, but the new scheme is basically for export of vegetables mainly to west Asian countries, Deshmukh said.
State agriculture minister Eknath Khadase said that exportable vegetable business will have two benefits for the state economy - farmers will get assured market for their produce and returns will be higher than that in local market. Once the project starts, there will be more investment and more job creation. Currently, lack of opportunity for creation of income sources is the biggest challenge before the administration, he said.
Source: indiatimes.com