This refers to Surinder Sud's column "Urban farming to the rescue" (Farm View, June 24). As urban areas exploded, their peripheral farmer was displaced away from the epicentre of mass demand. Reckless urbanisation has helped only the real-estate mogul, never the artisan.
The farmer was hence forced to look up to someone who would now meet his needs of transport, ready cash and prompt take of produce in the absence of storage facilities. The wholesalers provided him all this and extracted his cost from both the producer and consumer. The end consumer would like to see his vegetable spread at dinner come cheaper, but merely tinkering with the likes of the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee Act, do not take away the basic logistics that the distant farmer will continue to contend with. Setting up self-contained farmers kibbutz with storage, processing and direct marketing facilities, is one way to profitably bridge centres of production and demand, and cut on waste.
R Narayanan Ghaziabad
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