Date:03/08/2005 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2005/08/03/stories/2005080300511901.htm

Back Agriculture Board ensures supply of vegetables in Mumbai

R. Savitha

Pune, Aug. 2

WITH Mumbai crying itself hoarse about the non-availability of essential items, the Maharashtra State Agriculture Marketing Board (MSAMB) has put in place a steady system to provide vegetables and fruits to consumers in the city.

Most of the essential items are loaded from Pune, Sangamner, Ahmednagar, Nasik, Kolhapur, Satara and Sangli. Talking to Business Line, Dr R. M. Kharche, Managing Director, MSAMB, said the board had already begun monitoring on July 29.

He said that about 300 to 350 trucks carrying vegetables are plying to Mumbai to avoid any shortfall. He added that 371 trucks have unloaded vegetable cargo in Vashi market on Monday, a market from which cargo is distributed across the city by retailers and wholesale agents. MSAMB has also identified about four co-operative stores in Mumbai - namely, Apna Bazaar, Sahakari Bhandar, Maharashtra Co-operative Consumers Federation and Suparibagh Co-operative Wholesale Consumers Stores - to immediately hire trucks and distribute essential goods from Vashi market.

These co-operative stores have also been directed to take essential goods to major colonies in the city and "make it available to the consumers at a reasonable price."

Dr Kharache said wellknown malls such as Radhakrishna Foodland, Akbar Ali and Shopright Megasafe have also been roped in to distribute the goods. Dr Kharche said that supplies have been sufficient in Pune and there is no cause for panic He, however, pointed out that there has been a slight drop in the arrivals of vegetables in Pune as compared to the previous week. On July 25, the arrival was about 1,150 tonnes, which had dropped to 1,100 tonnes during the current week.

Of this, about 160 tonnes had been sent to Mumbai and 50 tonnes to the Konkan area. Dr Kharche, however, said that the damage caused by the rains would be severe, as most of the crops had been harvested, packed and transported in wet conditions. Due to this, the rotting process has started early.

Farmers at the receiving end: Be it too little or too much of rain, farmers are always at the receiving end. With rains lashing Maharashtra for the past one week, farmers have no hope of recovering the damage that has been caused due to excessive water logging in the fields. Out of the 135 lakh hectares of arable land under the cultivation of major crops, around three lakh hectares have been inundated.

Talking to Business Line, Dr Goel, Commissioner Agriculture, Maharashtra, said that paddy grown in Raigad and Ratnagiri districts and sugarcane grown in Kolhapur are the worst hit crops.

About 70,000 hectares of paddy and about 20,000 hectares of sugarcane are under water, he said. Crops such as cotton, sorghum and banana in the Marathwada region have also been affected, he said. Regarding the value of the damage caused, he said that currently, only the value of the seed and the fertiliser utilised have been lost.

"But if you consider what the crop produce would have been, the damage value could be anywhere close to Rs 200 crore," he added.