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The Girijan Co-operative Corporation (GCC) here should set up more outlets in important towns of the State to market its products more aggressively as “organic products”, according to Mr P. Balaraju, State Tribal Welfare Minister.
The Minister, who was reviewing the performance of the GCC for 2010-11 here on Monday, said steps should also be taken to complete the construction of a cold storage unit here with a capacity of 20,000 tonnes as early possible. He instructed the GCC officials to finish it within two-three months and necessary funds (Rs 2-3 crore) would be released for the purpose.
Mr Balaraju commended the GCC for achieving turnover of Rs 215 crore against the target of Rs 282 crore, but felt there was still a lot of ground to be covered. There was still a lot of untapped potential for selling GCC products, especially in the important towns of the State and other states. The export possibilities should also be explored and the GCC should set up more processing units, he said.
The Minister said the GCC should build up brand value for its products, as many of them were natural ones, and make all efforts to secure remunerative prices to the Girijans for forest produce such as honey, tamarind, gum karaya and others. The main objective of eliminating exploitative middlemen should not be lost sight of. However, if private merchants were offering a better price to the Girijans and if the GCC was not in a position to do so, they should not be hindered. “Market forces should be allowed to prevail, if they are to the benefit of the Girijans,” he added.
He instructed officials to promote coffee cultivation and also make efforts to market the crop, as it would be of immense help to Girijans. “Our aim is to have coffee plantations in at least 1,10,000 acres in the agency area of Visakhapatnam district. Rajma should also be promoted,” he said.
He said the honey processing unit at Araku would be revived and more chilli processing units would be set up, especially in the Bhadrachalam area of Khammam district. He assured the GCC officials that more employees would be recruited and steps would be taken to improve facilities.
Mr Trinadha Rao, Managing Director of GCC, and other senior officials participated in the review.
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