Enhancing Agribusiness of Cooperatives in Maharashtra

The Cooperatives Department of Maharashtra has decided to appoint managers at six major cities across the country to enhance agribusiness between cooperatives in Maharashtra and other States.

Improving Agri-Business

Maharashtra has a surplus of products such as onion, tomato, grapes, pomegranate, mangoes and raisins. These are traded in other states and in the process the traders accumulate the huge profits while the farmers are paid low due to the surplus production in the state.
To bridge the mismatch and ensure a better price for farmers and reduced burden on consumers, the Maharashtra government would appoint Managers at the cities Guwahati, Kolkata, Chennai, New Delhi, Chandigarh and Jaipur to look for business opportunities in other States.

Strengthening the Cooperatives

The Maharashtra government would strengthen the farmers cooperatives in the state to revive and enhance the collection and trading capabilities of cooperative institutions. The strengthening of cooperatives would be through two step prolonged strategy:

• Old cooperatives, which have been in the State since the 1950s, are being revived with the help of the new strategy and funding from institutions such as the World Bank.
• Provide an air freight subsidy on a pilot basis to carry high-value agricultural produce to the North East, Sikkim and Jammu & Kashmir, which will build up the appetite and demand from local markets.

The cooperatives will sell supply fruits and vegetables directly to similar cooperatives institutions in other States. The profits would be retained by the cooperatives owned by the farmers.

Month: Current Affairs - February, 2019