At six major cities across India, the Cooperation Department of the Maharashtra government has appointed managers to enhance agribusiness between cooperatives in Maharashtra and other states. There is a business opportunity of over ₹70 billion (€860 mln), a senior Maharashtra Government official said.
The managers have been recruited in Maharashtra and placed in Guwahati, Kolkata, Chennai, New Delhi, Chandigarh and Jaipur. They will look for business opportunities in other States.
Currently, Maharashtra has a surplus of products such as onion, tomato, grapes, pomegranate, mangoes and raisins, which are traded with other states, but the huge profits go to the fruit and vegetable traders. In this process, farmers get lower prices for their produce and end consumers have to shell out more money.
Possible co-op revival
The idea is to revive and enhance the collection and trading capabilities of cooperative institutions in Maharashtra so that farmers get more money and the final consumers have to pay less. The profit margins will be retained by the cooperatives, which are owned by the farmers, the official said.
The Department has already adopted a two-pronged strategy to generate business. The old cooperatives, which have been in the State since the 1950s, are being revived with the help of the new strategy and funding from institutions such as the World Bank.
The other approach is to provide an air freight subsidy on a pilot basis to carry high-value agricultural produce to the North East, Sikkim and Jammu & Kashmir, which will build up the appetite and demand from local markets.
