Business Standard

Marketfed plans auction centre for fair pricing

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Sanjeev Ramachandran Thiruvananthapuram
In a bid to ensure a fair price for farmers, the Kerala State Cooperative Marketing Federation (Marketfed) plans to set up a cardamom auction centre at Vandanmedu in Idukki district.
 
At present, cardamom prices are hovering around Rs 225 to Rs 250 a kg.
 
"The preparations for setting up the auction centre are on. We expect the Spices Board approval at the earliest," said Ajithkumar Varma, managing director, Marketfed.
 
The federation had earlier established a grading centre at Bodinayakannur in Tamil Nadu to increase the business volume and upgrade the commodity's quality. The proposed auction centre is expected to protect farmers from the trap of middlemen.
 
Meanwhile, Marketfed Chairman S Sathyaseelan, at a recent meet on the proposed cardamom auction centre, asked the state government to ensure that the procurement price, declared by the government, remained at par with the market price.
 
He said the government should reimburse the additional price if the market price was lower than the procurement price.
 
He also talked about the pepper prices and said the previous UDF government in the state had declared a procurement price of Rs 75 a kg when the market price was around Rs 55.
 
Following this, the Marketfed procured 4,755 tonne pepper, for which the federation had to pay Rs 12 crore more than the market rate to the pepper farmers.

 
 

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First Published: Jul 20 2006 | 12:00 AM IST

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