Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Perils of over urbanisation

 As urban areas exploded their peripheral farmer  was displaced away from the epicenter of mass demand as also from water sources that were commandeered for the city.Take for instance the  mundane earthen pot maker who lost his friendly soil and water in the city precincts and had to move far away to eke out his trade. A five litre pot sells in Delhi at Rs 120 but he must not be getting more than Rs 10, as his customer is 50 Km away.Reckless urbanization has helped only  the real estate mogul,never the artisan.
          The same with the  hapless farmer who  was moved far out of the city and was hence forced to look up to someone who would now meet his needs of transport, ready cash  and prompt off take of produce in the absence of adjacent storage facilities.The wholesalers provided him all this and extracted his cost from both the producer and consumer.Without him a farmer would be handicapped on all three counts.The end consumer in the city would like to see his vegetable spread at dinner come cheaper but merely tinkering with the likes of APMC Act,do not take away the basic logistics that the distant  farmer will continue to contend with.Setting up  self-contained farmers Kibbutz with storage,processing and direct marketing facilities, is one sensible way to profitably bridge centers of production and demand and cut on waste and delay. This will take  funds and earnestness. Governments quickly forget that the lowly onion had seen the back of them thrice already.

 Pub  --Business Standard Jun 25

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