People in Manipal will soon be able to check the availability of farm fresh produce from Benegal, Kukkehalli and Mattu villages on their mobile handsets. Manipal University and Nabard (National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development) have joined hands to connect farmers directly with consumers, eliminating the need for intermediaries such as middlemen.
Farmers from these villages near Manipal will list their produce with farmer producer organisations (FPOs) in their respective villages. The Centre for Social Entrepreneurship of Manipal University, with help from Nabard and other agencies, will market them in the Manipal University campus.
Prasad Rao, Assistant General Manager of Nabard, Mangaluru, said that each FPO has been sanctioned ₹9.06 lakh to implement the project.
Creating markets

HG Joshi, co-ordinator of the university’s Centre for Social Entrepreneurship, who is also professor at the Department of Commerce of Manipal University, told BusinessLine that the the initiative will not only help farmers reduce their dependence on middlemen in marketing but also help create new markets for their produce.
He said the university campus houses around 30,000 students, and there is a lot of demand for vegetables, especially fresh and leafy ones.
Farmers will list what is available with them in the FPOs, and the centre will assess the requirement in Manipal. The Udupi Agricultural Growers’ Society provides the logistical support between the producer and the market.
The amount due to farmers from the sale of produce will be credited directly to their bank accounts.
To avoid any supply glut, steps will be initiated to develop a consensus among farmers so that different vegetables are grown in a village.
On the average production from these three clusters, Joshi said farmers are hopeful of meeting 60 per cent of the requirement of Manipal.
The initiative aims to map the entire farm produce, wild fruits, and other value-added traditional farm products available in the three villages.
App coming

Thanking the Vice-Chancellor of Manipal University, H Vinod Bhat, for encouraging the centre to implement this concept, Joshi said a vegetable outlet will be opened on the Manipal Institute of Technology campus on April 11.
Stating that an app is being developed to connect farmers with consumers in Manipal, he said it would have a database of suppliers, seasonality of supply, pricing and information on availability of vegetables and other farm products on a daily basis.

Source : Business Line