The Aarey milk retail shops, located mostly in the western suburbs, will soon start selling fresh vegetables and fruits directly supplied by farmers.
“There are approximately one thousand milk shops in Mumbai and its suburbs, which will get a supply of fresh vegetables through the farmer-producer companies that are licenced by the state Marketing Department,” Sadabhau Khot, Minister of State for Marketing said.
The ‘farmer-producer companies’ as they are called, have been started by farmers, under which vegetables from their farms are directly sold to consumers in urban areas.
“The Aarey retail shops are positioned at key locations. If the supply of fresh vegetables is streamlined, it would be beneficial to farmers as well as consumers, who can purchase milk and vegetables. The farmer-producer companies, where a group of farmers grow vegetables and supply, would also get assured customers,” Khot said.
Similar experiment has been successfully carried out by Mother Dairy in New Delhi, he added.
“I have drafted the proposal and intimated State Dairy Development Minister Mahadev Jankar about it. He has also liked the concept. We will soon finalise the proposal and start the implementation,” Khot said.
According to the minister, the state government has lifted the restrictions on vegetable supply to the Agriculture Produce Market Committees (APMCs) and encouraged farmers to form companies for vegetable collection and distribution to urban areas.
“The contact details of such companies are provided to the urban retailers who sell vegetables on a daily basis,” he said.
Such by-passing of APMC saved unnecessary taxation of loading-unloading, weighing and transportation of vegetables, whereby farmers are guaranteed better prices for their produce, Khot said.
Aarey is a state government dairy established in 1949 at Aarey colony, Goregaon.
