JEYPORE: Locals have breathed a sigh of relief with the prices of vegetables being regulated by district administration which has joined hands with NGOs and producer groups to improve the supply network.
After the lockdown was imposed, vegetable prices rose due to limited supply with farmers failing to access the market amid transportation restrictions. Sensing the need to streamline the demand and supply chain, the administration decided to rope in producer groups for transporting vegetable produce across the district with help from NGOs.
Farmers of Dasmantpur, Potani, Semiliguda, Nandapur, Lamtaput, Boipariguda, Kundra and Borrigumma who grew a variety of vegetables had access only to local markets in Kunduli, Borrigumma, Kotpad, Koraput and Jeypore and depended on those for extending supply to other blocks and states. When the lockdown was enforced, their access to even these markets stopped and despite a good harvest, vegetable prices rose to about `40 per kg due to limited supply.
According to ORMAS, as many as 112 producer groups are engaged in the task which has not only eased the worries of farmers and customers, both but also checked hoarding and blackmarketing by middlemen. Over 20 trucks supply vegetables in different pockets now. After producer groups were pressed into service, prices of all the vegetables came down to about Rs 25 per kg.
District ORMAS official R Kartik, who is monitoring the NGO activities besides marketing process of farmers’ produce in the district, informed that the administration has been reaching out to all agencies concerned for smooth production and marketing of vegetables in the district.