Even as protests raged seeking the repeal of three agricultural laws, the UP Agriculture department facilitated cultivators and farmers producer organisations (FPOs) to set up direct links with aggregators and food processing firms and form unique convergences to market their produce.
In two recent examples, the Maharajganj Vegetable Producer Company Limited (MVPCL) in eastern UP signed an agreement with Tuber Foods Private for the supply of sweet potato, while Mahalaxmi Producer Company Limited (MPCL) in Deoria established a convergence between three government departments – Agriculture, Education and Rural Livelihood Mission – for the supply of oyster mushrooms by women cultivators for mid-day meal scheme.
The MVPCL has signed an agreement with Tuber Foods, a processor from Gujarat dealing in food processing and export to West Asia, for supplying 210 tonnes of sweet potato for two cropping seasons (January and June 2021). While sweet potato fetches Rs 20 per kg in the local market, Tuber Foods would pay the farmers Rs 25 per kg and lift the produce directly from their farms. The produce would be used by Tuber Foods for preparing healthier burger-patties and chips than those prepared from white potato.
The Union government had recently advised the Uttar Pradesh government to include mushroom as well as honey in Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) and Mid-Day Meal Scheme for their immunity-boosting and anti-viral properties.
An Agriculture department official said that for the first time farm produce from UP had found its way to a market in Gujarat without going through the hassles of APMC route.
“Earlier inter-state trade was hampered due to restrictions imposed by the APMC system, which have now been removed. It is going to help both the farmers and consumers. In the coming days, several farm products would be traded directly to better markets — inter-state as well as intrastate. The department will continue to facilitate many such tie-ups through different channels,” the official added.