Hopcoms vegetable mela from Saturday

Horticultural Producers’ Cooperative Marketing and Processing Society (Hopcoms) is organising a vegetable mela at all its outlets in the city and surrounding places from October 6 to 8.

Speaking to media here on Thursday, A S Chandregowda, Hopcoms president, said the mela was being held to meet the festival demand.

He also said that they want to ensure that citizens do not get tied up in the festive pricing rush.

At the mela 12 vegetable varieties will be sold at Rs 20 a kilo, and five varieties can be picked up for Rs 100. The vegetable varieties offered are brinjal — purple and green, beetroot, pumpkin, cucumber, cabbage, radish, bottle gourd, snake gourd, bitter gourd, bajji chilli and sambar onion.

He said the produce would be procured from farmers at around Rs 15 a kilo. The mela will be held at all 325 Hopcom outlets and stalls at Lalbagh and Cubbon Park on all the three days.

During the last festive mela, around Rs 15 lakh was earned from the sales.

The Hopcoms has 8,000 farmer partners from five districts. B N Prasad, Managing Director of Hopcoms said there had been a 30% wastage of crops because of less demand and that mela would help farmers earn profits and clear their produce.