[Assam] vegetableconomics

Wed Apr 9 06:02:09 PDT 2008

On the ?right place? point that Hazarika makes, I remember some work I  
did years ago in western UP.

I was very impressed by the prospects of linking the milk demand of  
big cities (Delhi in this case) with the supply by poor people in  
neighbouring villages ? because the owners of buffaloes in this case  
were fairly poor people. I found communication to be the crucial  
variable, and in a nuanced sense. Whether or not a particular village  
can be connected that way depended on how far it was from the main  
road and whether or not the milkman (dudhiya) could collect the milk  
from the village and take it on his by-cycle to the nearest point on  
the main road from where the milk could be picked up. Even quarter of  
a mile distance from this kind of connection may be too much because  
milk at that point is highly perishable. So only some villages  
(well-located in this precise sense) could benefit.

SB

Quoting Shantikam Hazarika <shntikamhaz at gmail.com>:

> The National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) was created to replicate the
> AMUL model all over India. The success was very limited. AMUL succeeded
> because it had the right people at the right time at the right place.
> Shantikam Hazarika
>
> On Fri, Apr 4, 2008 at 11:42 AM, umesh sharma <jaipurschool at yahoo.com>
> wrote:
>
>> can something like Gujarat's AMUL cooperative system start in Assam ?
>>
>> Umesh
>>
>> shantikam hazarika <shntikamhaz at hotmail.com> wrote: I think this has been
>> happening all along in Assam. A few years back I came across farmers in
>> Kharupetia allowing their tomato crop to rot because the price they were
>> fetching in the nearby market would not even meet their transportation cost
>> to the market.
>> As far as I remember, Assam Unnati Sabha need not worry since they have
>> already contracted their production to a buyer at a predetermined rate. For
>> any one starting a new business, that is the most sensible thing to do.State
>> intervention is the only answer, but how it is to be done is again a matter
>> that can be decided by in depth going into the problem. Unless the power
>> situation improves, cold storage may not be the solution. Also, simply
>> having the cold storage may not be adequate, unless we have the total
>> linkages in place.
>> Your jibe at the freedom seekers at the end of your note was not
>> necessary. I am sure they are still looking into our antecedants before they
>> can reply to the queries raised by us. So please do not disturb them with
>> such issues which may be beyond their comprehension.
>>
>> Shantikam Hazarika
>> Director,
>> Assam Institute of Management
>> PO Box 30, GUWAHATI 781001, India
>> HOME PAGE: www.aimguwahati.edu.in
>>
>> > Date: Mon, 31 Mar 2008 06:44:27 +0100> From: uttamborthakur at yahoo.co.in>
>> To: assam at assamnet.org> Subject: [Assam] Potatoeconomics of Assam> > > > >
>> A news item in Pratidin makes a difficult reading. Less of facts, more of
>> opinions. > But an item published on 31st March2008 is of concern. The
>> prices of potato have suddenly plummetted in Assam. Apparently it should
>> indicate the positive impact of withdrawal of Value Added Tax on food items.
>> But it is not, because of the simple reason that the prices of rice-cereals
>> etc. have remained sky-high.> > Then why this sudden drop in potato prices?
>> Its answer can be found in the huge production of potato in Barpeta district
>> under the aegis of the Oxom Unnati Sabha. In order to ensure that the
>> Oxomiya farmers producing potato incur loss and do not dare to cultivate it
>> again successfully, the mainland India trading lobby or the oligopoly or the
>> cartel, by whatever name called, has suddenly reduced the market prices of
>> potato so that
>>  the reigning market prices would not allow the local cultivators recover
>> the input prices, let alone make a profit. Moreover, storing in Assam is a
>> bit difficult, because of dearth of cold storage facility and lack of
>> electricity to run the cold storages effectively.> > Such things have been
>> taking place in Assam for a number of years in respect of tea, vegetables
>> and now Potato. Some people may argue that let the market forces rule, as in
>> any free market system. But history of economics shows that it is the trade
>> barriers, subsidies and in short the protective policies of the state that
>> have allowed the economies of rich nations grow. So such advocates actually
>> are the spokespersons of the mighty, and in this case that of the mainland
>> India that uses Assam like a hinterland. Moreover, had it been a fairplay,
>> it would have been acceptable. But here is a design working to stifle
>> capital formation in Assam and the Indian State and its local lackeys are
>> helping such a design
>>  to succeed by its inaction or covert helping hand.> > I believe that we
>> should do whatever we can to foil and expose such nefarious designs. Yes,
>> desecration of archeological relics is important issue to tackle. But brazen
>> economic loot is no less a question.> > I am also surprised that the outfits
>> that want secession or sovereignty of Assam, do not point out these
>> injustices in everyday life and restrict themselves to denouncing state
>> atrocities, to which campaign people have become desensitized to an extent,
>> as it smacks of partisanship. The major problem with these outfits are that
>> they have failed to give anyone an alternative picture or system, if they
>> have one, to fire the imaginations of the people, who they apparently want
>> to win over.> > > Uttam Kumar Borthakur> > >
>> ---------------------------------> Unlimited freedom, unlimited storage. Get
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>>
>>
>> Umesh Sharma
>>
>> Washington D.C.
>>
>> 1-202-215-4328 [Cell]
>>
>> Ed.M. - International Education Policy
>> Harvard Graduate School of Education,
>> Harvard University,
>> Class of 2005
>>
>> http://www.uknow.gse.harvard.edu/index.html (Edu info)
>>
>> http://hbswk.hbs.edu/ (Management Info)
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> www.gse.harvard.edu/iep  (where the above 2 are used )
>> http://harvardscience.harvard.edu/
>>
>>
>>
>> http://jaipurschool.bihu.in/
>>
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