Kerala agriculture minister in India, V.S. Sunil Kumar has said the government would open 4,315 vegetable markets that offer veggies at lower prices during the festival season.
The Onam vegetable markets will run from August 30 to September 3. The agriculture department would manage 1,500 of them directly, while rest of the markets would be organized by co-operative institutions such as Horticorp, Kudumbasree and SupplyCo.
The agriculture department would procure vegetables from farmers, by paying a price 10 percent higher than the market rates. The consumer also benefits from these markets as the selling prices would be 30 percent lesser than the prevailing rates.
The minister claimed that Kerala would be able to become self-sufficient in vegetable production within three years. The demand in the market is 20 lakh ton and the state produces over 7.5 lakh ton.
