Chemical-free veggies being sold on wheels in Shimla

The mobile van will be parked at the state secretariat on every Friday from 1 pm to 2.30 pm and then on HPU campus from 3 pm to 4 pm. It will then be at Krishi Bhawan from 4.15 pm to 5.30 pm

Chemical-free fresh natural produce will now be available to the consumers in the state secretariat complex in Chotta Shimla, Himachal Pradesh University campus in Summerhill and Krishi Bhawan in Boileauganj in a mobile van every Friday, beginning September 15.

A woman with a cauliflower grown organically without chemicals. (HT Photo)

In “Natural produce on wheels”, the state project implementing unit (SPIU) of Prakritik Kheti Khushhal Kisan Yojana (PK3Y) of the state government is facilitating the farmers in three blocks, Mashobra, Basantpur and Totu, to sell their fresh chemical-free vegetables, fruits and other products like ghee and pickles, to the consumers at reasonable price.

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The mobile van will be parked at the state secretariat on every Friday from 1 pm to 2.30 pm and then on HPU campus from 3 pm to 4 pm. It will then be at Krishi Bhawan from 4.15 pm to 5.30 pm.

“We will do this on pilot basis in the state capital as the consumers want to buy the chemical-free vegetables and fruits. Based on the outcome, we will have more sale spots in Shimla and then we can then replicate it in other districts,” said state project director, PK3Y, Hemis Negi.

Around 200 farmers are being involved for maintaining the regular supply chain from different farmer clusters identified in the three blocks. All these farmers are certified for natural produce under a self-assessed certification process , Certified Evaluation Tool for Agricultural Resource Analysis- Natural Farming, devised by PK3Y.

The SPIU has worked out modalities to run the mobile van. It will provide a Farmer Producer Company (FPC) fellow, working with PK3Y, to facilitate sale of natural produce at the specified spots.

The PK3Y was launched five years ago in the state to promote the natural farming technique propounded by Padma Shri awardee Subhash Palekar. It reduces the dependence of farmers on the market as the farmers can prepare all the farm inputs with the indigenous cow’s dung, urine, jaggery, gram flour and locally sourced leaves. . Around 1.70 lakh farmers in the state are practicing chemical-free, low-cost and environment friendly farming techniques on their fields, involving an area of over 24,000 hectares.