A news item in today’s Deccan Chronicle with a color photo shows farmers in Ranchi, Bihar trampling on tomatoes after dumping them on a road to protest against the non-availability of cold storage facilities to support a bumper yield. It is estimated that the losses in storage with the Food Corporation of India [FCI] every year is equal to one month’s consumption figure of food grains for our country. A serious drain on our economy which we can ill afford.

We can get garden fresh Washington or Chinese apples in our super market much faster than fresh apples from Kashmir or Himachal. During one of my visits to Baramula and Tangdhar in J&K before the outbreak of terrorism there, I saw apples rotting in gardens for want of adequate transportation to the market place. Now, with insurgency and frequent terrorists attacks, the situation is worse.

We have archaic laws dealing with octroi and inter state  movement of goods and fragmented land holdings in many parts of India still which inhibit mechanized farming and use of better technology to increase productivity and speedy supply chain with reduced to “time to market”. The losses in transit and pilferage in storage adds to this problem.

It is high time that the planners focus on this national problem and provide adequate access to national and global markets to our farmers. Otherwise, such shows of rage as was witnessed in Ranchi will be the order rather than exception.


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