India Post and MCX aim to further strengthen its strategic alliance for price dissemination among the commodity eco-system participants and build agri-decision support framework in the rural arena, by extending the Gramin Suvidha Kendra (GSK) services to 40 rural areas in Maharashtra in the next four years, said Lamon Rutten, joint managing director, MCX.

According to sources, MCX and India Post are also looking at introducing the GSK service at Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh. He said, under the GSK, MCX provides farmers with facilities such as expert advice on farming problems, better warehousing, quality testing, finance against warehouse receipts, MCX spot and futures prices for their produce.

At present, MCX has been providing the services at Jalgaon in Maharashtra, Dhamangaon in Amravati, Itarsi in Madhya Pradesh and Unjha in Gujarat. He further added, MCX aims at extending the unique partnership with India Post to cater to the marketing, warehousing and advisory needs of the farmers through the established and widespread India Post offices (over 1,55,000) across the country.

MCX has been offering the services of making it possible for farmers to seek expert advice on agri-based issues, to seek better market price for their produce, better warehousing, quality testing and grading facilities, in addition to providing a host of other services. The pilot project was initiated in July 2006 in the district of Jalgoan, around 540 kms northeast of Mumbai.

Travel for this story was sponsored by MCX