PANAJI
This was disclosed at a press conference called by GSHC s chairman Kiran Kandolkar.In monetary terms, GSHC procured Rs 1.7 crore worth of vegetables from farmers in Goa in 2015-16 compared to Rs one crore in the previous year.The state government has taken several initiatives in the last few years to provide vegetables and fruits to people at subsidised rates and also to reduce dependence for the same on other states. GSHC has succeeded in both. Kandolkar said, “There is a huge difference between price at which our outlets sell vegetables and price in markets. For example, we are selling cabbage at Rs 9 per kilo, while you will have to pay Rs 20 for it in the market. Similarly, we are selling French beans at Rs 52 a kilo while the market price is Rs 120 a kilo.”Kandolkar said that the horticulture corporation ended 2015-16 on a profitable note. However, its sales dipped slightly from Rs 111 crore in 2014-15 to Rs 109 crore in 2015-16. Kandolkar attributed lesser prices for this.Kandolkar also informed that 852 outlets of the horticulture corporation are selling vegetables and 350 outlets are selling fruits to people at subsidised rates. The fruit outlets supplied 816 tonnes of fruits valued at Rs 3.4 crore to people at subsidised prices in 2015-16. Kandolkar said, “We even exported 7 tonnes of green chillies, 1.5 tonnes of cluster beans and 100 kilos of brinjal in 2015-16.”
