Export-oriented farm market likely in Surat

AHMEDABAD: Surat, nicknamed as diamond city, will soon have the country’s first export oriented agricultural market hub is slated to come up here. Farmers, who traditionally sold their produce in the domestic market, are now ambitious and are now eyeing the international agriculture market.

Initially, starting from farmers based in Surat and its surrounding areas, the Surat’s Agriculture Produce and Marketing Committee (APMC) had joined hands with farmers’ organisation - Surat Agriculture Marketing Hub (SAMH) to set up a Rs 500 crore project to start a export oriented agricultural market hub (Agri Export Hub).
Currently, the quantum of only vegetable that flows into the Surat APMC market is 58 lakh quintal per year worth Rs 600 crore per annum. The Tapi river that flows through the Surat city has created fertile land in the surrounding area, where vegetables and fruit are grown throughout the year.

APMC and SAMH had identified 99 hectare land near Surat to come up with export oriented ultra-modern agricultural market hub. The facility will provide auto cleaning, grading and packaging of the agricultural produce. The items like vegetable, fruits, grains, poultry and aqua culture products would be exported from this facility, Secretary of Surat APMC Nilesh Thorat told ET.

These facility would be a model agri market hub for the country that would come up with the support of the Center and state government. The respective authorities from the Centre and State government had already met and decided to go ahead with this project. Mr Thorat said that even though the farmers’ produce are sold at the malls across the country, a new selling point for the farmers, still they are not able to get the right price for their produce. According to him, the new mall culture has not much benefited the farmers.

Now, with auto cleaning, grading and packaging of the agri produce, the farmer would be able to fetch more and will be in the better position to demand premium for its produce. He further said that with the development of export oriented market hub, the farmer would get export market at its disposal for selling its produce, earlier the export options were not directly available to the farmers.

Thorat adds that its organisation is incorporating the Amul model in this project. The authorities from the Agri Export Hub would establish collection centers throughout South Gujarat, where the farmers would sale its produce at the prevailing market rates and the authorities would immediately transport the produce to the Agri Export Hub. The experts believes that such kind of collection center would make provide access to the farmers to Agri Export Hub, even from the remotest areas. The best part of the project is that the farmers would be able to sale its produce at the prevailing market price, as the prices would be available on-line.

Agri Export Hub would also come up with ‘Agri Clinic’ for the farmers. The sole purpose of ‘Agri Clinic’ would be to provide expert guidance to the farmers for its farming activities where they can maximise their profit. Through ‘Agri Clinic’ guidance would be provided on cropping pattern, choice of the crops, choice of fertilizers, proper usage of pesticides, introduction of new seeds, providing information upon the latest research in agricultural sector. According to Thorat, these facility would be provide through agriculture experts posted at all the ‘Agri Clinic’.

With the surge in the demand for the ‘organic food’ in the country as well as in overseas, the SAMH’s authorities would encourage the farmers to undertake the organic farming. A testing laboratory for the organic agri product would also be set up at the facility. The authorities would also provide guidance right from the sowing to harvesting of organic crops as well as would provide export facility. The authorities are also hopeful to start organic agri-certification for the farmers produces that would immensely help in exporting its produce to overseas market.