Coronavirus: ‘Helping farmers directly market produce now a key area for Karnataka govt’

Government will GIS-map all farming activities, with forward and backward linkages, to monitor farming from input to harvesting and marketing status to help farmers overcome vulnerabilities exposed by the COVID-19 lockdown, Karnataka’s Agriculture and Horticulture Secretary Rajender Kataria tells DH’s Anita Pailoor.

The COVID-19 crisis clearly indicated that the post-harvest infrastructure in the state doesn’t match its production. What is the way forward?

Karnataka is a surplus state. The state has adequate post-harvest infrastructure, such as warehouses, cold storages and processing facilities. It requires more facilities as both area and crop production under horticulture is growing year on year. We need to promote the usage of warehouses and cold-storage facilities, including facilities in food parks. The available storage facilities are not utilised at the optimum level and we still have huge space available in godowns and cold storage.

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In the past, the horticulture department played a limited role in post-harvest and marketing of produce, especially disposal of fruits and vegetables, as it had a definite market inside and outside the state. This crisis posed a big challenge. There was a big dip in demand, and the department came out with various ideas to ensure that excess fruits and vegetables are routed in the right direction for sale. In the lockdown period, over 1,500 tonnes of fruits and vegetables have been exported from Bengaluru to some 20 countries.

The government has provided support to processing units for grapes, cashew and gherkin. Processing units for tomato, mango and guava exist in Kolar and Bengaluru.

The state is promoting more such facilities through public-private partnership and in the private sector. The COVID-19 crisis has changed the roles and responsibilities of the horticulture and agriculture departments substantially and soon, marketing and post-harvesting activities will be among its major areas of operations.

Are there any plans to encourage direct marketing through policy guidelines?

We never considered marketing as our domain. This situation posed a challenge as there was a glut in the market and all marketing channels were closed. This also gave us an opportunity to facilitate direct marketing which helps both growers and consumers.

Farmer producer organisations (FPO) and cooperative societies have been exempted from APMC regulations to promote direct marketing. Around 100 FPOs promoted by the Horticulture and Agriculture departments supported the farmers in output business marketing. The state government is further working on the formation of FPOs at the hobli level to do the same. The department also helped in direct marketing of farm produce to apartments in Bengaluru and other cities in the state through NGOs and residents’ welfare associations.

Is the time ripe to expand the Hopcoms network across the state?

Responding to the situation, Hopcoms is working at more than double its capacity. The transactions have increased to 120 tonnes per day from its normal 40-50 tonnes per day. The number of outlets and mobile vans have also increased during this period. While we have reached all district centres, we are planning to expand to taluka level places based on the demand. This time, we didn’t restrict the purchase from member farmers of Hopcoms and catered to all growers. This signals another area of expansion.

There has been criticism about the reach of government programmes such as the ‘Agri War Room’ and farmers’ helpline.

The ‘Agri War Room’ and farmers’ helpline handled by the Agriculture and Horticulture departments attend to 500-700 calls every day. The various issues related to availability and distribution of seeds, fertilisers and machinery have been resolved. The marketing of farm produce (fruits and vegetables) was another major concern. The department tried to resolve such issues by providing marketing linkages. The district and taluk units of the departments have supported farming operations by issuing green passes to dealers and vendors of agri-inputs as well as for outputs.

Has there been any assessment of the loss to farmers due to the lockdown yet?

Horticulture seasonal crops were grown over 106,000 hectares this time. We are in the process of making an assessment. The focus is now on the harvesting of Rabi crops, providing seeds and fertiliser for sowing of early kharif crops and marketing and linkages of farm produce.

How prepared are we for the next cropping season?

Kharif, which is the major crop, is crucial for the state’s food security. There is adequate availability of seeds, fertilisers as well as sowing machinery and equipment. All 742 Raitha Samparka Kendras and all offices of agriculture, horticulture and allied departments are functioning now. We have also taken steps to ensure that farmers don’t suffer due to scarce financial resources. The PM-KISAN benefits from the state government and the central government have been transferred. Under this scheme, an amount of more than Rs 1,050 crore have already been transferred and around Rs 600 crore more in transfers is under process.

COVID-19 lockdown showed how vulnerable the farming sector is to any form of disruption. What are the immediate steps required to strengthen agrarian communities?

The farming sector is more vulnerable due to its perishable nature of its produce and the volumes involved. We are planning implementation of various steps to support farmers. One such measure is GIS mapping of all farming activities with forward and backward linkages so that real time monitoring of input stocks, sowing, harvesting and marketing status can help authorities take timely decisions and actions.