THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: There was a time in Kerala when the streets once throbbed with life as buses carrying various types of goods reached both local markets and towns across the state. However, with the passage of time, the glory of rooftop transportation of goods on buses waned with the emergence of various types of cargo vehicles. Now, the state government is pondering whether to bring back the old system of transporting domestically grown farm produce including vegetables atop KSRTC buses on long routes to various markets across the state in order to salvage the sagging fortunes of farmers as well as the KSRTC.
After the KSRTC proposal to rent out vacant shops in its buildings across the state to the government-run Bevco, now a work study report on agriculture development and farmers' welfare department done by the Personal and Administrative Reforms Department has recommended to the state government to consider KSRTC buses for the roof-top transportation of domestically grown vegetables across the state in order to provide better remuneration for farmers engaged in vegetable farming. This would be a win-win situation for farmers, consumers and the debt-ridden KSRTC including its staff by providing them incentives for the transportation of goods, the report said.
Though the state government has announced the support price for various crops including vegetables, there is a considerable difference in prices of vegetables being sold in various parts of the state. After the campaign of pesticide-free vegetables, there is a considerable demand for domestically grown vegetables and a lot of people have taken up farming as a vocation. But ensuring a dedicated market and price for domestically grown farm produce is still a big challenge for the state government.
"In some areas, the farmers had to postpone the harvest of the vegetables or other produces following crash in prices. At the same time, the same vegetables would be selling at high rates in some other parts of the state. In this backdrop, it would be ideal if we could press the long haul KSRTC buses to transport farm produce atop buses across the state. This would enable consumers to get farm fresh domestically grown vegetables and other produce hardly 12 hours after the harvest by an overnight journey to various markets," the report said.
By equipping dedicated software for the marketing of domestically grown farm produce along with services, the state could ensure a fair price for it across the state. The goods can be offloaded at designated local level warehouses near the city or town markets. Further, the staff of KSRTC buses carrying goods should be given an incentive in proportion to the weight of the load on top of the buses. This would enable the KSRTC to earn additional revenue other than ticket collection apart from providing an opportunity for the staff to earn more, the report said.
Subhash T V, Director of Agriculture, said, "The suggestion of ferrying farm produce atop the KSRTC buses to city markets is one of the good recommendations in the report. We hope once the report is submitted to the state government after the initial discussion, the government would take a favourable decision in favour of this recommendation which would be beneficial for farmers, KSRTC and even
the consumers," he said.