Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Friday, Mar 17, 2006
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Friday, Mar 17, 2006 |
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Agri-Biz & Commodities
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Contract Farming Nafed begins contract farming of potato M.R. Subramani
"The potatoes will be exported to Dubai, Singapore, and Malaysia."
Chennai , March 16 The National Agricultural Co-operative Marketing Federation (Nafed) has begun a pilot project to grow potato through the contract farming route in Indore. "We have begun contract farming of potato to produce 5,000 tonnes. The potatoes will be exported to Dubai, Singapore, and Malaysia," said Mr Alok Ranjan, Managing Director of Nafed. Under this project, the farmers will be asked to grow potato as per prescribed specifications and Nafed will provide seeds and buy them back before exporting. "We will step up production if the pilot project yields good results," he said. Meanwhile, Nafed has entered into a tie-up with the Department of Agriculture in Tamil Nadu to encourage farmers grow pulses and diversify from crops such as rice. "Here too, we are following the same pattern providing inputs and buying back the produce," he said.
Onion exports
Nafed will try and increase onion exports to ensure that domestic prices pick up. "Pushing up exports is the only way to ensure better domestic prices," Mr Ranjan said. So far, Nafed has exported 6.75 lakh tonnes of onion and by the end of the current fiscal, eight lakh tonnes are likely to be exported, he added. "Exports will, however, be less than 9.41 lakh tonnes last fiscal." He added: "There was a crisis in the domestic market in October-November as the crop was damaged due to rains in Maharashtra. Prices were also high, hitting exports. Now the problem is that prices have fallen in Nashik and we have to export to address it." Onion prices have declined to Rs 400 a quintal currently in markets such as Hyderabad from a high of Rs 1,450 during October-end. The prices are even lower in places such as Nashik, where growers sell their produce.
Agri-produce exports
Exports of various agri products produced by Nafed are likely to touch Rs 660 crore this fiscal compared to Rs 600 crore last fiscal. The federation was shipping coarse grains, barley, spices, rice, onion, and potato. Besides, it was also export jowar to African countries. In Orissa, Nafed is procuring maize as part of a price support scheme on behalf of the State Government, Mr Ranjan said.
More Stories on : Contract Farming | Horticulture/Fruits & Vegetables | Co-operatives
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