Horticulture market to come up at Sonipat at a cost of Rs 1,500 crore

CHANDIGARH: Haryana State Agricultural Marketing Board will set up India International Horticulture Market (IIHM) in about 537 acres of land at Ganaur in Sonipat district at the cost of around Rs 1,500 crore.

Haryana Agriculture Minister Om Parkash Dhankar said that the process of selection of consultant for planning, development, marketing and management of IIHM has started.

This market will provide additional alternatives to farmers for selling their produce. Besides, it will provide storage infrastructure to growers for trading their produce like fruits, vegetables, flowers, poultry and dairy products as per their convenience, he said in a release.

The minister said IIHM would operate on a hub-and-spoke model, wherein market would be hub-linked to a number of commodity specific collection centres (spokes), located at key production centres in the state.

The IIHM will offer a one-stop solution, starting from facility for cleaning, refrigeration, processing, secondary processing, grading, packaging of fresh fruits and vegetables, horticulture and poultry produce, he said.

Apart from the above facilities, the market would also provide services of cool chains support and facility for storage including warehouses, cold storages, ripening chambers and storage sheds.