India is a densely populated country. Food inflation is very high. But still Huge quantity of vegetables and rice are rotten. 40% vegetables produced in our country are rotten because small retailers can't preserve vegetables. Huge quantity of rice become useless because Govt. godown are not able to store them properly. If more corporates enter into retail sector then we can reduce wastage of vegetables and rice.
In kerala demand for unskilled workers are very high. So even if some unskilled workers loss job due to FDI, they can easly get other jobs. Here skilled workers go abroad and other states for getting jobs. In kerala, No. of people who do farming is very less compared to people who do trading and act as middlemen. This is affecting productivity of our state. Govt. should give importance to the welfare of farmers and consumers than welfare of traders and middlemen.
World developed from stone age to electronic age by accepting many changes. Herd will always listen to Outdated leaders who talk about Tughluq. They don't know about scientists and other reformers who changed our lives. Most scientists got recognitions only after their death. Herd protested against electricity when it was invented. But now everybody use it. Herd protest against computer when it was invented. People who protested against computers decades ago are now protesting against new technologies through their blogs. Why people who protest against FDI in retail are not protesting against huge difference between rate at which farmers sell and rate at which consumers buy? Why they are not worried about vegetables and rice becoming rotten due to lack of better storage facilities for small traders and Govt. godowns. We should accept the fact that rubber farmers are getting better price because rubber consumers are corporate tyre companies who don't let middlemen make huge profit. Organized retailers who are capable of producing value aded products from crops can provide better rates for farmers. But small retailers are not capable of adding value to crops.
Retailers can make profit by providing services like home delivery. But they prefer to make profit by preventing organized retailers from opening new shops. I don't know why traders who protest against FDI are not protesting against nokku kooli.
Agricultural yield/productivity in India is almost half the international average and another half is wasted due to wastage,lack of supply chain etc.
ReplyDeleteTo make things worse the consumer in India pays almost 3-5 times the price that the farmer gets due to middlemen being freely allowed in India to extort both farmer and consumer.
Dear Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment. All your points( yield, wastage, middlemen ) are valid. Govt. should work for betterment of farmers and consumers. Traders should make profit only by providing better service.