Grower to consumer

Soon green vegetables stashed in refrigerated carts will be visible in your neighbourhood. After a successful launch in Patna to retail vegetables,  it is expected to enter other important cities across the country.

The brain behind the move — Kaushlendra Kumar, an IIM topper, who was not swayed by the lure of lucre and instead opted for 'greener' pastures — selling vegetables. He topped the agri-business stream of the management course from Ahmedabad in 2007.
As a first step, around 50 refrigerated carts will start selling vegetables in different localities of Patna. The self help groups (SHGs) of women vegetable growers would supply their produce to other SHGs retailers.

These retailers would bring the vegetables to a warehouse cum retail shop at the Maurya Lok Complex in the city. And from there these vegetable vendors with refrigerated carts would disperse in different directions to comprehensively cover the city every morning.     

N Vijaylakshmi, chairperson cum managing director of the Woman Development Corporation says: “The effort is to stop exploitation of vegetable growers and sellers and help them benefit from the demand for their produce.”  She adds, “Today middlemen make maximum benefit from the whole transaction. ” 

The Bihar Government roped in Kaushlendra, as it was he who along with his IIM friends developed a pushcart made of fibre with a weighing machine attached to it. This pushcart is ice-cooled to keep vegetables fresh for four days. The IIM graduate told Deccan Herald:  “The vendors, who invariably have to carry a heavy load on their heads will find this pushcart easy to move and spacious enough to load 200 kgs,”
So far, 25 SHGs of vegetable growers and 17 SHGs of vegetable sellers have been identified. The IIM graduate topper said: "A federation comprising both the SHGs will be formed… my only aim in life is the uplift of the farmer," says the young lad who incidentally hails from Nalanda, the home town of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

Mr Kaushlendra said: If this experiment of selling vegetables in refrigerated carts is successful, we will move to other places as well. We have already initiated the effort in Lucknow”.