What happens when the government puts faith on cooperative is loudly visible in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra. An orange growers’ cooperative named Maha Orange has made two defunct orange processing govt plants at Morshi and Karanja (Ghadge) viable again.
It was Nitin Gadkari at the Centre and Chandra Kant Patil, at the state who prevailed and put trust on the cooperative-Maha Orange- an orange growers’ cooperative. They ensured handing over of these defunct plants to the cooperative body with all the related assistance.
The two plants which were closed for 20 and 8 years, respectively have begun not only catering to Mumbai and Banglore malls but are also exporting their products to Bangladesh and Iran.
These revived units, sources say have demonstrated the efficacy of the idea of cooperative in that scores of farmers have regained their confidence and begun selling their produce at a higher price.
But it was not easy. “We had to also take the farmers in confidence and prove that they can get better price by selling the fruits to the plant rather than to traders or middlemen”, said one of the Directors.
The co-op has ensured handsome return to farmers on their produce. One of the Directors of the Maha Orange claims it has also fetched much more price (almost double) to them compared to what they get at the conventional markets.
The plants are being run on no-profit-no-loss basis. We have to prove to the farmers as well as to the govt that yes we can do it. One of the Directors was thankful to the govt not only for leasing the plants but also for resolving issue of water in Vidarbha’s dry area by giving them capital to fetch water from 2.5 kilometers, said a Director. It is the result of a successful symbiotic relation between govt and cooperative, he summed up.