THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: As part of curbing the soaring vegetable prices, the government has decided to come out with 28 travelling stores that would mainly sell tomatoes across the state, agriculture minister P Prasad said on Thursday.
The official launch of the travelling tomato stores took place at Vikas Bhavan here. The agriculture department has decided to come up with the idea in the wake of soaring prices of vegetables, tomatoes in particular. He said that the travelling vegetable store would sell tomatoes at Rs 50 per kg. In addition, other vegetables will also be available at a subsidized price, the minister said. The vehicles will travel from 7am till 7.30pm. The agriculture department has decided to procure tomatoes and other vegetables from within the state and also from other states, he said.
In places where there are no permanent markets, more sales outlets and travelling outlets will be set up, he said. The government has decided to make strong interventions in the open market to ensure that the prices do not skyrocket, and Rs 8 crore has been earmarked for this, Prasad said.
A committee has also been constituted under the agriculture director that will be supervised by the secretary (agriculture), anticipating interventions in the future. The government is also considering sanctioning buffer money with the agriculture director in case intervention is required in the future. This amount will be used for procuring vegetables from other states and distributing them at subsidized prices whenever an emergency arises. A permanent committee for such procurements is also under the government’s consideration, he said.
Horticorp’s retail outlets are already selling vegetables by procuring as much as 40 tonnes from other states every day. In addition, 170 tonnes of vegetables are being procured from within the state that is being sold through the vegetables and fruit promotion council of Kerala (VFPCK), he said.
The department will launch a campaign to attract more people towards vegetable farming, titled “Njanum Krishiyilekku” from January 1. As part of the campaign, vegetable seeds and saplings will be distributed to the public. As much as 10,000 acres of land has been identified for farming, he added. Horticorp will launch Christmas-New Year sales markets from December 22 till January 1. As many as 1,937 sales centers are being operated under the department in the state, he said.
