The Tamil Nadu government will shortly call for bids from agro-based investors to run the Primary Processing Centres in two districts — Krishnagiri and Coimbatore — under the proposed ₹398.75 crore project of Supply Chain Management of Fruits, Vegetables and other perishables. The processing centres will procure the vegetables and fruits from the farmers.

The investors will put processing machinery in each centre to sort, grade and process the fruit and vegetables. They will pay fair prices to the farmers and have a direct tie-up with retail fruits and vegetable shops in the State and in other States/countries, according to an official statement.

The Department of Agricultural Marketing and Agri Business is implementing the project in hub-and-spoke format in 10 districts to integrate the farmer producers with major market centres, processors and consumers. The districts include Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri, Coimbatore, The Nilgiris, Thiruchirapalli, Dindigul, Theni, Ramanathapuram, Thoothukudi and Tirunelveli.

The objective is also to provide integrated and complete supply chain management infrastructure and support services for perishable fruits and vegetables, to reduce post-harvest losses and provide uninterrupted supply of quality produce to consumers round the year at affordable rates.

The project involves integration of farmers’ produce at 487 collection points, processing at 58 Primary Processing Centres and providing logistics support to take the produce to terminal markets.

As many as 10 Primary Processing centres are being established in Krishnagiri district at a cost of ₹136.18 crore and seven in Coimbatore for ₹40.74 crore.

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