HYDERABAD: The pilot project of Telangana government, “Mana Ooru, Mana Kuragayalu”, intended to boost vegetable supply to Hyderabad city, has begun with 20 villages already supplying vegetables to the city. A few more villages are expected to begin their supply in the next two weeks.
“Five clusters have already started sending the produce and within two weeks, the remaining will also start,” said Venkata Rami Reddy, executive director of horticulture department.
Considering the current demand, we are expecting every cluster to supply around 3 tonne of vegetables everyday, he added.
Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao launched the project on August 6 when he named the Agriculture University after Prof Jaya Shankar. Under this project, the government provides subsidies and transportation to farmers for bringing their produce to the city. With this system, farmers can avoid middlemen and sell their produce directly to customers. With the elimination of middlemen, farmers can sell vegetables at reasonable prices. Ultimately, the urban population will benefit as vegetable prices will be stable.
The agriculture marketing department selected 35 villages from Ranga Reddy, Medak and Mahbubnagar districts and divided them into 10 clusters. Every cluster has three to four villages, where select farmers will supply vegetables to Hyderabad with the help of the government. So far, the government selected around 1,900 farmers from three districts. The marketing department has also set up collection centers in all the 10 clusters to collect vegetables.
The vegetables will be sold at Rythu Bazaars and various markets in the city. Officials have made sure that all the selected villages are less than 50 km to 60 km from the city. “It makes transportation easier and the vegetables will be fresh by the time they reach the market,” said Rama Laxmi, project officer, Micro Irrigation, Medak.
The current vegetable supply is unable to meet the demand of the city. According to available data from the agriculture department, the state needs around 110 lakh tonne of vegetables every year. However, only 50 lakh to 60 lakh tonne are available in the market. The State’s share is only 3-4 lakh tonne of vegetables every year.
