Agriculture department to hand over outlet to Vegetable and Fruits Promotion Council

KOCHI: Agriculture department is planning to hand over its fruits and vegetable procurement retail outlet at the collectorate compound toVegetable and Fruits Promotion Council(VFPCK). There were no takers for the outlet over the past two years as the department did not maintain it properly.

Officials of the department said that they are planning to hand over the outlet to VFPCK to revive vegetable procurement and sales. "We had to close down the outlet as there was no response from members of the apex body formed to coordinate the activities of the outlet. VFPCK has the infrastructure to take up the outlet as they have a chain of such outlets," said agriculture department's assistant director of marketing EP Vijayan.

Vijayan also said that before winding up, they had tried to revive the outlet by convening a meeting of the apex body members and other officials. But no one turned up for the meeting. The outlet was started in 2006 by the agriculture department utilizing the MLA funds.

After its launch, the department had formed 'Sanghamaithri', a nine-member apex body to monitor the activities of the outlet. Haritha secretary Baiju NT said that the apex body had planned many activities to promote the outlet initially and their plans were effective to a certain extent. "After a couple of years, the members and officials lost interest and they stopped supporting us. On a daily basis, we used to sell about 100 kilogram of vegetables through this outlet," he said.

Kochi: The agriculture department is planning to hand over the fruits and vegetable procurement and retail outlet in Collectorate compound to Vegetable and Fruits Promotion Council (VFPCK). The outlet had no takers for the last two years as the agriculture department was least bothered to maintain the outlet.

Officials in the department said that they are planning to hand over the outlet to VFPCK and revive the vegetable procurement and sales. "We had to close down the outlet as there was no response from members of the apex body formed to coordinate the activities of the outlet. VFPCK has the infrastructure to take up the outlet as they have a chain of vegetable procurement and retail outlet," said EP Vijayan, assistant director of marketing, agriculture department.

The official also said that before winding up the functions of the outlet they had tried to revive the outlet by convening the meeting of the apex body members and other officials for which no one turned up. The outlet started in 2006 by the agriculture department at the collectorate compound in Kakkanad utilising the MLA funds.

After the launch of the outlet, the department had formed 'Sanghamaithri', a nine-member apex body to monitor the activities of the outlet. Baiju NT, secretary of Haritha, a farmer group, said that initially the apex body had planned many activities to promote the outlet and were effective to a certain extend.

"After a couple of years, the members and officials in the body lost their interest in the centre and they stopped supporting us. On a daily basis, we used to sell about 100 kilogram of vegetables through the outlet," he said.

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