THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: After the successful launch of the Jeevani-Sanjeevani markets which aim at bridging the gap between farmers and urban dwellers, the Directorate of Agriculture Development and Farmer’s Welfare is now planning to introduce online markets to facilitate consumers and farmers in the wake of the Covid-19 threat. The Google form was launched on Monday ahead of Vishu.
As part of the Jeevani-Sanjeevani, the-first-of-its-kind farmers’ retail outlets the department with the help of NGO Swasthi Foundation has organised a slew of farmers markets in many parts of the city. More than 14 tonnes of vegetables produced by local farmers were sold in the five farmers markets organised to ensure the availability of organic vegetables and other local produce during the lockdown.
All the markets were mobilised following the social distancing guidelines issued by the state government.
On Monday, the Agriculture Department organised the fifth farmer’s market at Karamana ahead of Vishu. So far the authorities have been able to sell around `2.5 lakh worth of vegetables.State volunteer coordinator of Jeevani-Sanjeevani farmers market Adarsh Prathap said that the primary aim of the initiative is to build a bond between local farmers and city dwellers.
“We have introduced a Google form from Monday in Thiruvananthpuram and Kochi so that the people can book the vegetables online. Our volunteers will deliver the vegetable kits,” said Adarsh, who is also a youth coordinator at Swasthi Foundation.He said that the farmer-friendly market was first introduced by Swasthi Foundation.
“The Agriculture Department wanted to replicate this model across the state. The Google form will be circulated in WhatsApp groups of the resident association and other groups. Around five volunteers have been deployed to carry out the delivery. We will get live updates on the orders placed. We will be launching an online application and web portal soon for placing orders,” said Adarsh.
However, scarcity of vegetables in the district is becoming a challenge for the organisers. “We are bringing vegetables from other districts because of the unavailability of vegetables here. We received a massive response,” he said.He said that the department is also planning to introduce friendship farming to strengthen the relationship between local farmers and residents.
“By introducing friendship farming, we would be able to help the local farmers and build a connection between them and the consumers. We will be creating a database of consumers. If there is a regular demand for locally cultivated vegetables, the farmers would increase their production. Also, each consumer will know from where they receive vegetables,” said Adarsh.