Cotton farmers in a Gujarat village set up own marketing yard

AHMEDABAD: Cotton farmers in Gujarat have stopped going to the district centres to sell their produce. Instead, they are receiving buyers right outside their fields at a village-level marketing platform, set up the first time in the country.

The initiative begun 20 days ago and transactions between the farmers and ginners have already crossed Rs 1 crore every day. Targhadi, a village 17 km from Rajkot, has a population of 5,000 and a large number of villagers grow cotton.

“We have 17 ginning units here at Targhadi and so we don’t need to look for others,” said Maganbhai Zalawadiya, a member of the Khedut Cotton Yard’s administrative committee. Cotton crop size has doubled in the last four years but capacities at marketing yards have not risen leading to congestion.

The Targhadi model of creating an APMC-like marketing platform at the village level has been beneficial for farmers and ginners. Even the Cotton Corporation of India has started buying since a week. The corporation has arrangements with nearby ginners and is buying 40,000-60,000 kg of raw cotton everyday. The yard charges Rs 1 per 20 kg as commission from the farmers as against 1%, or Rs 9 per 20 kg, charged at the Rajkot yard.

“We make Rs 25-30 per 20 kg more than the earnings from the Rajkot yard auction,” said Bharat Patel, a farmer of neighbouring town Paddhari. The village yard fetched him `910 and the going rate for the same quality was Rs 880 kg in Rajkot. Ginner Girishbhai Raichura too saved Rs 10 per 20 kg at Targhadi.

“After passing a Rs 20 per 20 kg benefit to farmers, I could save Rs 200 to Rs 300 per candy (356 kg) and offered discounts to my clients,” said the owner of Balkrushna Ginning. He buys 3,000 mann (1 mann is 20 kg) daily and has no need to visit the Rajkot yard.

While the Khedut cotton yard auction was in the range of Rs 900-939, the Rajkot yard fetched Rs 860-910 for various varieties. Raichura said the buyers save on transportand labour costs because the goods are weighed right there and dispatched. The committee is upbeat after the initial success and now wants political support for having a permanent setup.

“Our experiment clicked because buyers were around. But we cannot continue this without state support as it needs a lot of infrastructure,” said Zalawadiya.