Having paid off investors loan, eight farmers’ collectives with more than 4,500 members have now officially become owners of their ventures and apple orchards in Uttarakhand. The development is part of joint venture efforts involving the farmers, socio-cultural, commercial and non-governmental bodies focused on facilitating developments in apple cultivation and other aspects in the farming sector in Uttarakhand.
Addressing the media here in Dehradun on Tuesday, the founder of Annamrit Farmers and Owners Foundation, Uttarakhand, laxmi Prasad Semwal said with the farmers having paid back the investors their share, eight farmer collectives involving about 4,500 farmers have officially become the owners of the ventures.
Under the Apple Project, the aim was to create profitable partnership between investors and farmers groups by setting up joint agro-processing enterprises based on feasibility studies and business plans. Efforts were made towards building the eventual farmers owned agri-value chain business through a socio-economic organisation to create a win-win situation for the cultivators and other stakeholders of this value chain have been successful at various levels.
In 2007, various farmer development trusts of Uttrakhand collectivised the apple growers of different regions, who were facing the main problem of not being able to secure the best price for their produce. Shri Jagdamba Samiti and Fresh Food Technology, a Dutch company with a family Foundation of Netherland, SHGW (social investor) came together to build a value chain for these apple growers.
Yuva Foundation adviser Vikas Khatri said, “In 2011 when we came to know about such initiative it was looking like a dream but now through such initiatives the farmers are free from brokers and earning good from the fruit cultivated by them. Not only this today they are aware about the crop related diseases and the ways to make more cultivation. We appeal to the youth of country to participate in such programs so that our farmers can do well and our country may develop.”
It is pertinent to mention here that cultivators of fruits and other items in Uttarakhand- especially apple growers, face various challenges which had earlier prevented efforts to capitalise on unique produce like the Harshil apples considered to be among the best tasting apples in India. With the State Government authorities not doing the needful to effectively ensure profit for the cultivators and boosting the marketing of native produce, the development achieved by the eight farmer collectives of apple cultivators marks an important milestone in the sector.