How direct arrangements with farmers is helping both buyers and sellers in Bengaluru

Coronavirus

With gaps in the supply chain and markets closed down, much of farmers’ produce is getting wasted – but some people are trying to change that.

Soumya Chatterjee

With the lockdown severely affecting the regular supply chain of fruits and vegetables in Bengaluru, some residential communities and farmers are faring better than others. This is due to farm-to-door arrangements that some volunteers have worked out.  There were multiple incidents of farmers leaving their crop to rot in the open or feeding their crop to cattle, as they could not arrange transport to ferry their produce. Even if the farmers managed to arrange transport for the produce, strict enforcement of social distancing measures resulted in shutting down of many big traditional markets like KR Market, Russel Market etc. This meant that there was an ‘artificial shortage’ of vegetables – and the end consumers were also forced to pay more for their staples. However, some volunteers and residential communities figured out a solution. Deepanjali Naik, a resident and member of the Resident Welfare Association, said, “For a long time now – much longer than the lockdown – we have been using milk, vegetables and eggs supplied by farmers who have organic farms nearby. Now in time of the lockdown, even other farmers who are finding it difficult to arrange transport to interior parts of the city have started to sell to nearby apartments, and this is proving beneficial.” Similarly, Horticultural Producers' Co-operative Marketing and Processing Society (HOPCOMS) said they are also trying to take farmers' produce to the door steps of residents, with many of the major markets being non-functional. GR Sreenivasan, Chairman of the quasi-government body of farmers and the state Horticulture Department, said, “We have 15 vehicles all around the city targeting apartment complexes on each day of the week to supply fresh vegetables and fruits.” He also claimed that there is no drastic change in prices of their products and supply is usual in the 200-plus HOPCOMS-run stores across the city.  Similarly, there are volunteer initiatives like Caremongers India are helping farmers sell their produce directly to customers.  In the first week of lockdown, there were numerous reports of farmers not only incurring huge financial losses but also being forced to waste their produce due to logistical gaps. Since then things have slightly improved for some sections with district authorities allowing and facilitating transport of agricultural commodities to the markets. However, farmers all over the state say that the situation is far from normal.

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