Smart carts to replace vegetable thelas soon

The Uttar Pradesh government will take the help of the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad to introduce 8220;hand-held smart vegetable carts8221; in the state.

The Uttar Pradesh government will take the help of the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad IIM-A to introduce 8220;hand-held smart vegetable carts8221; in the state. Lucknow has been identified as the venue for the pilot project. The Rs 49-lakh project is expected to be implemented in nine months.

A Memorandum of Understanding MoU between the IIM-A and the Mandi Parishad of the state government will be signed next week in this connection. The project has already been successful in Bihar where Kaushlendra Prasad, an IIM-A topper, has come up with the smart cart system. Prasad and his guide, Professor P K Sinha 8212; Chairman of the Centre of Retailing in IIM-A 8212; will visit the state to sign the MoU.

Under the project, a federation of farmers will be constituted. 8220;These farmers will be asked to divide their agricultural land into two portions. In one part, they can cultivate regular vegetable crops and in the rest, they will grow vegetables according to the specifications of international market,8221; said Rajesh Kumar, Director of Mandi Parishad, the nodal agency which will provide logistic support to the project.

At present, UP exports branded mangoes and potatoes. 8220;But the export is limited to East Asian countries as there are stringent specifications for the European and the US markets. We are trying to grow vegetables and fruits as per their standards and ensure exports to Europe and the US,8221; Kumar added.

The vegetables grown according to the specifications of international market will be made available on these smart hand-held carts. Sold at lower rates, the vegetables at these carts will compete with vegetables sold at stores like Reliance Fresh, Spencers or Big Bazaar.

The project gives a farmer the leverage to carry on with his existing business of selling usual vegetables, but at the same time, get better prices for those grown as per specific standards. The amount of vegetable grown will depend on the demand to ensure constant supply of fresh vegetable.

IIM-A has also chalked out means to meet the cost of the smart carts. The cost of a cart is Rs 45,000. Following Prasad8217;s model, the smart carts will have billboards, each side of which will fetch a minimum of Rs 15,000 from advertisements.

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Prasad said: 8220;We have conducted the baseline survey of Lucknow and its surrounding areas.8221;

8220;We have gathered information like per head consumption, coverage area for a vendor, which vegetable comes from which state and so on. We are now preparing a model based on the data collected,8221; he added.