TIRUCHY: Residents who find it difficult to visit uzhavar sandhai, where fresh fruits and vegetables can be bought directly from farmers, can now buy them at their doorsteps through the ‘farm to home’ scheme to be launched soon. Agriculture marketing department sources said they expect the scheme to be launched before the second week of December this year across Tamil Nadu in city corporations.
Sources said preparatory work is also on in Chengalpattu, Coimbatore and Tiruppur districts and the scheme will be extended to all corporations in the state in due course.
On an average, products in uzhavar sandhi are 20% cheaper compared to the market rate, sources said.
“Six young farmers with suitable vehicles have been selected in Tiruchy city. A subsidy of Rs 2 lakh will be provided for remodelling the vehicle as per requirements under the scheme,” sources said.
Agriculture marketing department deputy director G Saravanan said, “Two vehicles are ready to go and work is on to fix the other four vehicles. The vehicles would be equally divided between Anna Nagar uzhavar sandhai and KK Nagar uzhavar sandhai for collecting fresh vegetables and fruits for distribution to different wards in the city.”
Consumers can buy vegetables at rates displayed on the vehicles without bargaining. The use of digital weighing machines in vehicles is under consideration, sources said. Discussions are on to finalise whether an exclusive app could be used or a dedicated mobile number could be allotted for the purpose. The possibility of including other agro products is also under consideration, a senior official said.
Agriculture minister MRK Panneerselvam in his speech in the assembly while presenting the agriculture budget for 2021-2022 had said, “During the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown in May 2021, sale of fresh vegetables to consumers at their doorsteps by vehicles was taken up. The initiative received accolades from both consumers and farmers.”
According to the minister, we propose to continue the scheme. “On a pilot basis, 30 mobile shops will be operated in the five corporations of Chennai, Tiruchy, Coimbatore, Salem and Tiruppur,” he said.