The Agriculture Department, in association with Vegetable and Fruit Promotion Council Keralam (VFPCK) and Horticorp, is preparing to open 50 markets in the district during the Onam season to ensure availability of pesticide-free vegetables at reasonable rates.
While the Agriculture Department will open 37 such markets, the VFPCK and Horticorp will open five and eight markets respectively in various grama panchayats.
Vegetables would be procured from farmers in the district at 10% higher rates than the market rate and sold at 30% lower rates in the markets, said department sources. Vegetables cultivated using the organic method would be bought at 20% higher prices than the market rate, added the sources.
While the nendran variety of plantain, different types of vegetables, elephant foot yam and ginger would be collected from farmers in the district, cool season vegetable items, onions, shallots and potatoes would be procured from farmers in neighbouring districts such as the Nilgiris in Tamil Nadu and Chamrajnagar and Mysuru districts in Karnataka, said the sources.
