Weekly farmers market starts milk centre in Thane

After enjoying farm fresh vegetables at reasonable prices, Thanekars can now enjoy wholesome milk, straight from the stable again, at affordable prices. On Saturday, the weekly farmers market at Gaodevi maidaan, Thane started a milk center with milk brought in by farmers, and will be sold at Rs 5, less than the market price.

The fast-paced life of cities has made us eat food off the shelf, and buy bottled/packaged milk. No matter how many claims the packaging makes about the food's goodness, it does have its own pros and cons. And the increasing number of milk adulteration cases and rackets make us wonder whether milk consumed by our children is really good for their health?

In such a scenario, organic food and milk, directly bought from farmers seems like a good alternative. "This will not only benefit farmers but also customers who will get fresh milk at a reasonable price," said Mahadev Jankar, minister for daily development, Maharashtra, who inaugurated the center on September 17, at Thane. "Our aim is to strengthen the popularity of our local milk brands in the state rather than milk brands of other states, and this will be a reality soon with such initiatives," he added.

In August, a weekly farmer's market called Sant Sawta Mali market, was started at Gaodevi, Thane. Here 27 different types of vegetables are sold directly by farmers from Palghar, Murbad, Nashik, etc., at 30% less than the market rate.

Encouraged by public response to this initiative, the minister said that efforts should also be made to sell food grains like Jowar, Bajra by farmers, directly in the market. "We are also thinking of ways to sell packaged chicken/mutton to people so that it increases employment opportunities for people," he added.