Metro Cash & Carry, the Germany-based retailer, will set up ‘collection centres’ close to the farmers, in an attempt to improve post-harvest conditions and ensure better access to farm area and quality control.
Collection centres will be located close to the farm area and will procure from farmers directly, doing away with intermediaries.
Metro Cash & Carry sources 95 per cent of its products locally and collection centres are expected to facilitate this.
Each collection centre will be of close to 2,000 sq ft and will cater to the nearest Metro Cash & Carry store.
The collection centres will handle packaging and transportation to the stores.
According to official sources, pre-harvest technologies are available in the country currently but post harvest prerequisites of cold storage is not so promising yet.
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“The collection centres are a move in that direction to ensure pre-cooling at the farm level, temperature control storage, as well as temperature control display,” the source said.
According to official sources, setting up collection centres will reduce farmer’s transportation costs and will ensure better value for money for their produce.
On the other hand, Metro Cash & Carry will be able to be close to the farmers and can therefore communicate its requirements and quality improvement parameters better.
The collection centres will also engage in training farmers on newer pre and post harvest technologies.