World class terminal market in Coimbatore
Delhi based Premium Farm Fresh Produce Limited, part of the Lalit Suri group, has presented a proposal to the Tamil Nadu Government to set up world class terminal markets for perishables at a total investment of Rs 300 crore, company Chief Operating Officer J S Yadav said today.Claiming that the Government had agreed to the project in principle, he said the company would embark on preparing a detailed project report to set up terminal markets in Chennai, Madurai and Coimbatore, after getting a formal approval.He said each terminal market would have about 30 collection centres, where the farmers' produce would be collected, cleaned and graded according to its quality.Yadav said the terminal markets would have various facilities, including electronic auction halls, display areas, viewing gallaries, transportation corridors, cold storage units and loading and unloading areas.Addressing a press conference here, he said the farmers would be offered a muliple choice for sale of their produce through electronic auctioning or direct sale to exporters, processors or retail chain network under one roof.He said a sum of Rs 100 crore would be invested on each terminal market, including Rs 50 lakh for each of the collection centres.
Stating that the company had already been given approval to set up a terminal market in Nasik, Yadav said it was proposed to set up 30 such markets across the country in the next five years.Yadav said the terminal markets would be built, owned and operated by Premium Farm Fresh Private Ltd in equity participation with NAFED and Sydney Market Ltd, the largest privately managed market in the world. He said the company intended to buy on its own, the land required to set up the markets and would not seek concessions or grant from the Government.Yadav said about 500 to 600 villages would be linked to the proposed market and farmers would be organised through farmers associations.
Besides getting spot payment for sale of their produce, farmers would also get added facilities like free insurance, ATM/Credit/Kisan cards, agri clinic, commodity exchange price, information kiosks, transactional banking and volume incentives.With the elimination of middlemen and commission agents, transparency and fair price for the produce would be ensured, Yadav said, adding that the company would get its revenue by charging for its various services.On an average, five lakh tonnes of produce is expected to be handled per day in a terminal market, involving 50 different activities like grading, packing and supplying, he added.
