Govt asks hotels to buy direct from farmers, cut out middlemen

Agriculture Secretary Devesh Chaturvedi on Monday asked hotels and restaurants to buy produce directly from farmerproducer organisations FPOs to improve returns for growers by eliminating middlemen from the supply chainThe secretary also called on the hospitality industry to promote Geographical Indication GI tagged food products to enhance the dining experience for tourists and visitorsWe have a large number of hotels and restaurants across the country And if you are able to develop a partnership with the local farming community to get authentic food vegetables spices and other things then it will be a winwin situation Chaturvedi said at an event organised by the Hotel and Restaurant Association of Northern India and the agriculture ministryIndia has about 35000 FPOs nationwide including 10000 established under government schemes the secretary saidThe ministry plans to launch a webbased platform where FPOs can register their surplus produce for direct procurement by businesses hotels and restaurantsThey hotel and restaurant chains are in any case procuring fruits vegetables spices and food grains from local mandis or from some retail chains What we are requesting them is to start buying directly from the FPOs which are around that particular unit Chaturvedi saidAgriculture contributes 18 per cent of Indias GDP while employing 46 per cent of the workforce highlighting the income disparity between farm and nonfarm sectors Chaturvedi saidThe farm sector faces two major challenges fragmented landholdings that limit scalability and bargaining power and a significant gap between farmgate prices and retail prices he pointed outDirect partnerships with farming communities could help address this price gap the secretary addedChaturvedi said there was growing demand for pesticidefree and organic food and noted that farmer clusters producing organic or natural produce could tie up with hotels for certified organic procurementOn GItagged products he said India has numerous registered food products beyond Basmati rice including food grains vegetables fruits and processed foodsI would also request that if you are able to promote those GI products across the country in your cuisines I am sure many tourists will love to notice that this is a GI heritage of our country he notedSuman Billa additional secretary in the tourism ministry said direct sourcing would benefit both sectorsWhen a tourist travels what is it that he cherishes the most He cherishes an authentic experience Billa said adding that gastronomy is an important part of that experience and requires fresh ingredientsThe Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Associations of India said it would publish a booklet listing FPOs with their products and contact details and create a cell to facilitate direct connections with the organisationsLemon Tree Hotels President Vishvapreet Singh Cheema Sarovar Hotels Managing Director Ajay Bakaya and Wyndham Hotels and Resorts Market Managing Director Rahool Macrius among others were present at the eventThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever