Rajesh Harjani, a fifth-generation wholesale trader in fruits, eagerly awaits the arrival of a ?banana train? at the rail yard of the Azadpur mandi in Delhi, Asia?s biggest market for fruits and vegetables. The train, which is to arrive from Jalgaon, Maharashtra, is not any ordinary good trains run by the Indian Railways. With specially designed 80-odd insulated and ventilated containers, the train has been carrying more than a thousand tonnes of banana since its launch in mid-September this year.
The ?horti train?, which runs once or twice a week between banana growing regions of Maharashtra and Delhi, has not only reduced transportation cost for traders like Harjani, the specialised train has also reduced perennial waste reported during transportation of fruits and vegetables by road. Various estimates indicate that 20-30% of the horticulture produce goes waste because of lack of modern storage and transportation facilities.
?The train’s ability to carry huge quantity of banana has helped in reducing cost of transportation and storage for both farmers as well as traders,? Harjani tells FE. He says after introduction of the horti train, the cost of transportation of banana has come down to Rs 2 per kg against Rs 3 per kg charged by road transporters.
In a first, the National Horticulture Board under the agriculture ministry and Container Corporation of India (CONCOR) has invested Rs 8 crore each for this dedicated modern train for exclusively transporting fruits and vegetables across the country.
Suresh Sachdeva, former president of fruits and vegetable merchants? association, Azadpur mandi, has been quite optimistic about increased business prospects , in terms of lower waste and quicker and economical transportation of bananas after the introduction of the special train. ?More such trains for other fruits and vegetables should be introduced so that transportation cost is reduced, which would eventually benefit the consumers.?
The capacity of each container is 12 tonnes. The train makes around five rounds in a month from Raver (Jalgaon, Maharashtra), the hub of the country?s banana trade, to Delhi. The train has a travel time of about 26 hours, including eight hours for loading and unloading of bananas, in a one-way trip. Jalgaon and Bhusawal in Maharashtra are the biggest banana producing regions of the country and they mostly feed the north Indian markets.
Besides the traders, farmers from the banana growing regions in Jalgaon have been using the train to send bulk consignments, which has impacted the cost of storage for them. As DG Mahajan, president, Maha-banana, an association of growers, says the horti train has changed the way banana is being transported to northern India from Maharashtra.
?The government needs to introduce more such trains so that farmers and consumers get the benefit of faster transportation of perishables,? Mahajan says.
Another key benefit of the train is that a rack can be jointly owned by two farmers, thus bringing down the cost.
Although the container design has been certified by Ludhiana-based Central Institute of Post Harvest Engineering and Technology, the National Horticulture Research Development Foundation has put forward a few suggestions (following feedback from farmers) to improve the condition of the containers, which would in turn ensure better ventilation for the fruits and vegetables.
On the issue of increasing the frequency of the train, Sanjeev Chopra, director, National Horticulture Mission, says this would only be possible once the loading point is determined and the traders agree to load the rakes at the offered rates.
The horti train for transporting fruits and vegetables was first mooted under the Kisan Vision Yoyana launched by the Indian Railways in 2009.
?We had successfully conducted a dry run of the banana route from Jalgaon to Azadpur before the formal introduction and an onion route from Nashik in Maharashtra to Kolkata and Malda in West Bengal, which will terminate in Fatwa, Bihar,? says Chopra.
He adds that a dry run of a potato train was also conducted from Kolkata to Guwahati and from Agra to Bangalore. However the ?banana train? is the first off the block.
Enthused by the response to the banana train, the horticulture mission has proposed an expenditure of R100 crore during the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-2017) where the cost would be shared by CONCOR. ?The aim is to launch 10 such trains for carrying fruits and vegetables between growing and consuming regions during the next five years,? says Chopra.
However, agriculture ministry officials say the services of such trains could be expanded if state governments start investing in the project. Chopra tells FE that the agriculture ministry has approached the Railways, seeking concessions like assured transit time, concessional haulage charges, waiver of terminal access charges, etc.
Maharashtra is the key banana producing state. The Agriculture Marketing Board of the state established ?Mahabanana?, a farmers? marketing organisation, in 2002 with headquarters at Jalgaon. There are 26 cooperative societies registered under ?Mahabanana? and each member society has 300-350 small and marginal farmers. About 8,000 farmers have enrolled as members of the organisation.
The Maharashtra government has set up a well-organised banana industry in Jalgaon. This has been achieved by adopting high density planting and single crop cultivation method. Besides meeting the demands for all the markets of Maharashtra state, on an average 12,000-15,000 wagon loads are transported every year to the markets in Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi. Besides, transportation by road to states like Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Rajasthan is also sizeable.
More than five lakh small and medium farmers are involved in banana cultivation and about one-third of India?s fruits production is accounted for by banana alone. Around 1.7 million hectares in the country are under banana cultivation. Maharashtra accounts for 25% of India?s banana production, followed by Tamil Nadu (20%), Gujarat (15%), Karnataka (10%) and Andhra Pradesh (10%).
