Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Thursday inaugurated 31 Farm Fresh Consumer Outlets, aimed at selling 31 different vegetables at reduced prices to consumers in the city. The launch of the outlets is part of the measures taken by the State government to dampen soaring inflation in the prices of food items. The outlets are aimed at eliminating middlemen and deliver benefit of associated price savings to both consumers and farmers.
Jayalalithaa inaugurated the 31 shops through video conferencing from the Secretariat. The shops are spread across the city and its suburbs and will be run by local co-operative societies. The model is simple. Vegetables are sourced from a number of districts that produce surplus veggies. The procurement is done through co-operative societies that also provide loans and assistance to the vegetable farmers.
Government sources said the system is designed to benefit farmers by procuring from their doorstep and ensuring payment for it the same day. The vegetables will then be sold in the city within a day of the procurement.
The Farm Fresh Consumer Outlets were among the announcements made by the Jayalalithaa government in its budget for 2013-14, and are aimed at bringing a degree of control on vegetable prices in the open market.
The vegetable sales move follows the government’s opening of 193 shops to sell rice at `20 per kg, which has softened the increase in open market prices.
Farm Fresh Consumer Outlets in Teynampet, Royapettah, Triplicane, RA Puram, Velachery, Saidapet, Villivakkam, Kilpauk, Periyar Nagar, Kannammapet and Thoraipakkam will be run at TUCS shops.
Poonga Nagar Co-op Society shops will host them in Anna Nagar, Villivakkam and Shenoy Nagar, while Kancheepuram Co-op Society shops will host them in East Tambaram, Chrome-pet, Porur, Pallavaram and Alandur.