Page 3 Nashik shared an article with its viewers about direct vegetable markets opened in Nashik. Here is an update informed by the sources that 7 of 13 vegetable centers were shut down. The markets were opened under Agriculture Technology Management Agency (ATMA) where the veggies were brought by the farmers directly to the customers.
But unfortunately the markets shut down due the poor supply during the rains and low response from the consumers. On this an official of the agricultural department informed,”The objective behind these centres was to eliminate middlemen and pass on the benefits to both consumers as well as farmers. These centers were opened near large housing societies in the city. Now, seven of them have closed down due to poor response from the consumers.”
He also added, “We had also formed groups of four to five farmers each at a center. But the farmers did not receive good response from consumers. The rainy season was another reason behind the closure of these centers; farmers were unable to bring their vegetable to these centers. Excess, unsold vegetables were decayed. Now with the rains over, we are planning to revive these vegetable centers.”
It was believed that the direct vegetable market could prove to be a successful initiative as the consumers would have availed 10% discount compared to the usual rates. But the scenario does not seem to get positive feedback. Ravsaheb Patil, block technology manager of ATMA informed, “Consumers are interested if there is enough variety of vegetables. The supply of vegetables fell during this monsoon, and many varieties were not available. As a result, the response of the consumers was poor at some of these centers and they had to be closed down.”
