State govt to soon introduce ‘Chamber of Farmers’ project

Project focuses on horticulture farmers, agri-entrepreneurs; likely to be included in the upcoming state budget

RANCHI: Jharkhand government will soon introduce Chamber of Farmers (CoF), a project focusing on horticulture farmers and agri-entrepreneurs to help them get linked with market opportunities, improve their income and technology, officials said on Monday.

The state horticulture department has prepared a draft for CoF. It is likely to be included in the upcoming state budget, which is expected to be tabled on March 3 in the Assembly.

State horticulture director Varun Ranjan said, “We have proposed to include the project in the upcoming budget. It is an ambitious project, which would help farmers engaged in horticulture in various ways.”

Once the project gets included in the budget, CoFs will be formed on the block, district and state level. The CoF will also help in addressing farmers’ policy technology, trade, marketing, financing and partnership-related needs, Ranjan said.

Jharkhand is a vegetable surplus state which produces around 35 lakh metric tonnes of vegetables annually. The state exports around one million tonnes of vegetables to other states every year. They are also now being exported to Dubai and other countries.

Jharkhand produces around 2.75 lakh tonne peas, over 3.45 lakh tonne tomatoes, one lakh tonnes of lady fingers on an average , 22,000 tonnes of pointed gourd and around 1.10 lakh tonnes of French bean annually.

According to experts, Jharkhand’s vegetable market is worth around ₹700 crore. However, the maximum benefit of the market is availed by middle men and traders instead of farmers. Every year, farmers are forced to sell produce at a lower price to private parties for immediate cash in absence of any fixed support price.

Ranjan said, “We will include progressive farmers in CoF to be constituted at the block, district and state level. Besides, the government will also try to help the chambers in different ways, so that they could start micro enterprises, which will help develop agri-entrepreneurship culture in the state. Currently, the horticulture crop marketing is in the hands of traders or middlemen, but farmers hardly get the benefit of it. Formation of CoF will help farmers get the maximum profit.”

Price of horticulture crops depend on packaging and standard size of the produce, he said. “Besides, crops need to be grown as per market demand. Such knowledge will also be provided to farmers through CoF,” Ranjan said. The CoF will also help disseminate about various government schemes among farmers.

“In the coming days, district and state level portals will also be prepared by the CoF, on which price and other crop details will be available. This will help enhance the market for farmers. If traders in Delhi or Kolkata find prices to be cheaper here, they could place order through the portal,” he said.

The state government is mulling a minimum support pricelike model for vegetables. The department is studying models adopted in different states, officials said.