Nashik-based Sahyadri Farmer Producer Company has become the first farmer producer organisation in the country to get a licence for a private Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) market.
Sunil Pawar, MD, Maharashtra State Agri Marketing Board, and director, marketing, Maharashtra, said Sahyadri is the first FPC in the country to set up a farmer-owned APMC as till now a majority of the private APMCs have been promoted by traders, retail companies or food processing companies.
Maharashtra had launched agri market reforms in 2005 to help farmers get remunerative prices and bring in competition in this market that would lead to better price discovery and improve efficiency, Pawar said.
Vilas Shinde, chairman and MD, Sahyadri Farmers, said there was a shift taking place in Maharashtra towards horticulture crops but there was no growth in post-harvest and marketing infrastructure which put farmers in a vulnerable situation.
The Sahyadri FPC will own 100% of the Sahyadri Private Agricultural Market and it will come up at Dindori in Nashik. “As most of the infrastructure is ready, they would be able to launch APMC operations in three months with an additional investment of around Rs 25 crore,” Shinde said, adding that their APMC would focus on horticulture crops.