With Delhis Azadpur mandi in the process of consultations to end its monopoly over distribution of fruit and vegetables, the process of setting up replacement markets for farmers is likely to be in place by September. Discussions are on with the Haryana government for similar mandis in that state.

The first mandi will come up in the Nafed premises in Delhis Lawrence road and will have around 25,000 sq ft of space.

A total of around 5-7 mandis are planned in Delhi and, of the 15,000 tonne of supplies that Azadpur supplies to the Delhi region, the kisan mandis hope to get a market share of 5-7% soon. Around 60% of Delhis consumption comprises potatoes, onions and tomatoes.

The mandis are being set up by Small Farmers Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC), a society under the agriculture ministry, and hope to reduce prices by around 20-25% once farmers get to sell in competitive markets as opposed to ones dominated by cartels.

Parvesh Sharma, managing director, SFAC, says The Big Bazaars and the Reliance Freshs have told us they will come and buy in these mandis ... with Azadpurs monopoly going, these large buyers have nowhere to buy from, going to the farmgate is not so easy.

Once the mandis work out as an alternative to Azadpur-type mandis, Sharma believes, even the

mandis will start changing their practices.

Sharma adds the SFAC, set up in the mid-1990s, has promoted over 300 FPOs across states and more than six lakh farmers are associated with it of these, around 50 are in the Delhi region. The idea, Sharma says, is to bring direct delivery to large apartment complexes as well. People can place their orders on phone or email, the SPOs will consolidate them, and deliver them the same or the next day.

Depending on how it works, Sharma says, even the Delhi Milk Schemes 2,000-odd kiosks can be given direct supply, so when you go to buy your milk, you can pick up vegetables.

While farmers will be showcasing their produce in Kisan Mandi, the actual storage of fruit and vegetables would be done in various godowns located in

National Capital Region (NCR) and would be transported directly to target consumers by FPOs.

The Kisan Mandi will offer basic infrastructure for storage to the FPOs who set up stalls, which also includes basic godowns, grading, cold store as well as logistics handling facilities.

APMC Azadpur (Delhi), the countrys biggest fruit and vegetables wholesale market has already started the process of consultation on delisting fruit and vegetables from the APMC, and a formal decision would be taken by the Delhi government within a few weeks.

Kisan Mandis are a variant of the Rythu Bazar promoted in Andhra Pradesh wherefarmers bring vegetables and sell directly to the consumers, thereby eliminating middlemen.