Governor Suggests HIMFED to Establish Cold Strores to Benefit Orchardists

Shimla, Aug 13 – Chairman, Himachal Pradesh State Cooperative Marketing and Consumers Federation Ltd. (HIMFED) Ganesh Dutt called on Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar at Raj Bhavan today and apprised him about various activities being undertaken by the Federation in the State.

Ganesh Dutt said that it was an apex Cooperative Marketing Federation of Himachal Pradesh which undertakes multifarious activities to serve the farming community and the consumers by marketing farm inputs, implements and produces and also distributes fertilizers etc. It was playing an important role in the development of agriculture, industry, trade and commerce etc. in the state and in ensuring distribution, storage and procurement of fertilizer well in advance so as to prevent any scarcity of this essential commodities.

The Chairman said that more than 95000 MT of manure was supplied through the Federation in a year. Despite the corona pandemic, the Federation had ensured the supply of fertilizers to the farmers. He said that the Federation had strong supply chain and it was acting as the largest procurement agency of apple under the Market Intervention Scheme. He said that 122 procurement centers had been set up during this apple season. Apart from this, the Federation also runs its own petrol and diesel stations. He said that due to smooth implementation of its various activities, the Federation today was a profit making public sector undertaking.

The Governor appreciated the initiatives of the Federation and said that HIMFED should also come forward in developing cold stores in the state. He said that there was a need to set up more cold stores in Himachal Pradesh so that farmers and orchardists could get better marketing and remunerative prices for their produce.