Bhubaneswar: Making a foray into Odisha, Safal is all set to open two fresh fruit & vegetable in Bhubaneswar tomorrow in collaboration with oil marketing company to benefit both consumers and farmers.
Mother Dairy Fruit and Vegetable Pvt Ltd (MDFVPL), a wholly owned subsidiary of National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) under its 'Safal' brand is initially opening the two outlets in the city in the pilot phase.
"Once this pilot becomes successful, MDFVPL further plans to expand to other OMC outlets in a phased manner," Dilip Rath, Chairman of NDDB and MDFVPL, told reporters here.
Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan is slated to inaugurate the first two Safal fresh fruit & vegetable (F&V) outlets at a BPCL petrol pump in Unit II here.
Besides Rath other MDFVPL officials will also be present for the inaugural event.
These two retail outlets in the pilot phase, apart from offering fresh F&V, will also make available Mother Dairy branded dairy products, Dhara branded range of edible oils and SAFAL branded products.
Safal through its outlets seeks to undertake the twin objective of making available fresh, quality and safe fruits and vegetables to consumers at affordable prices on the one hand and provide market linkage to F&V growers of Odisha and give them remunerative prices for their produce on the other.
The NDDB Chairman said Safal's efforts to provide market linkage for fruits & vegetable growers will also entail enhancing farm productivity, through agronomic intervention for key horticulture crops such as banana, parwal, tomato, brinjal, chilli and okra.
The initiatives will include activities like educating the farmers on crop plan, good agriculture practices, training and other requisite inputs.
Safal will also be promoting Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) that aims to streamline quality procurement and also give producers remunerative price.
With adequate water availability, Odisha has a large potential in varied horticulture crops, MDFVPL officials said.
Safal is already procuring leading varieties of Mangoes such as Langra, Amrapali, Dushehry and Malika from the districts of Mayurbhanj and Dhenkenal through Farmer Organisations, which this year has grown by almost 3 times over last year.
The company has already established mango sourcing base in the districts of Kandhamal and Ganjam and plans to procure mangoes from these districts as well during the next season, they said.