Padmaja Gladys looks forward to Saturdays. That’s when she sells her home-grown vegetables and leafy vegetables, besides eggs, coconuts, coconut oil and mushrooms, at the farmers’ market near the Avukkulam Sree Dharma Sastha temple, a few kilometers from Paudikonam Junction. The housewife is one of the vendors at the Saturday market organized by Haritham Organic Group, a farmers’ collective.
A vendor selling produce at the Saturday market by Haritham Organic Group | Photo Credit: Athira M
Meanwhile, another homemaker, Satidevi, sells curry leaves, plantain flowers, banana flowers, mangoes and homemade pickles at the farmers’ market organized by Haritha Group, another farmers’ group, on Saturdays and Sundays at Cheruvayakkal near Srikarayam junction. Are. Jyotish Kumar, a seasoned farmer, sells household produce, including spices, at the Sunday market at the Orthodox Student Center opposite AKG Centre, Palayam, while Indira Nair comes to the Saturday market every week with vegetables from her kitchen garden at Gandhi Bhavan. With homemade snacks and desserts.
Saturday sale near Paudikonam, near Avukkulam Sri Dharma Sanstha Temple | Photo Credit: Athira M
He is among the farming enthusiasts who regularly attend the weekly farmers’ markets in Thiruvananthapuram city and its outskirts. They sell vegetables, fruits and other produce grown in their backyards or terraces. The demand for organic or food-safe produce has helped these farmers find a stable market for their crop.
Apart from vegetables, now seasonal fruits like mango and jackfruit are also available in these markets. Milk, curd, eggs, oil, spices, different types of chillies and amaranth, greens like salad, spinach, mint, betel leaves etc often come in these markets.
“I am growing vegetables and greens at home. Before, excess production would go to waste or be distributed for free to neighborhoods. But the Saturday sales now bring me an income and the response has been overwhelming,” says Padmaja.
The sales, which began in December last year, are held in the premises of the house of Kanaklata LS, one of the members of the group, who grows all kinds of vegetables and also keeps chicken, goats, cows and rabbits in his backyard .
Valsala Sudhakaran, president of Haritham, says the group has 114 members, all of whom come under the purview of Sreekaryam Krishi Bhavan, which provides support and guidance to farmers in organic farming. Maya Babu, an executive member, says Krishi Bhavan has chosen Haritham as an urban street market and provided them with a weighing machine and other facilities to sell. Monthly classes are conducted for the members by the officers. The sale starts at 9 am and ends in an hour or so.
From the farmers’ market at Cheruvayakkal near Srikarayam | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
MA Prasad, the head of the group, says that the Ulloor Krishi Bhavan was instrumental in starting the Haritha group in Cheruvayakkal five years ago. “Before the pandemic, we used to do sales only on Sundays. It’s been two days, two years,” says M Kesavan, an office-bearer. The two-day sale will start from 7.30 am till 12 noon.
A view of the organic market at Gandhi Bhavan, Thycaud | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Social media platforms such as Facebook and WhatsApp have played a big role in the launch of weekly markets at Gandhi Bhavan and the Orthodox Student Centre. Swadeshi Kartik Vipani, a Saturday market at Gandhi Bhavan that was closed during the pandemic and has now been replaced by an organic market, was born out of a WhatsApp group of gardeners. It is currently run by the Farm Journalists’ Forum in association with the Gandhi Smarak Nidhi and Anantapuri Jai Padna Kalari. “Of the 60 farmers registered with us, 30, if not all, come to sell their produce every week. Most of them are terrace gardeners,” says NG Balachandranath, general secretary of the Farm Journalists Forum. Apart from vegetables and fruits, some counters sell homemade sweets, namkeens, spices and pickles from 10 am onwards.
The weekly market at the conservative student center is an initiative of the WhatsApp group of the Thiruvananthapuram chapter of Agricultural Land, a Facebook group of farmers — mostly terrace farmers — that has a presence across Kerala, says KP Krishnakumar, the group’s chief administrator. Started in 2017 at the residence of one of the farmers in Pattom, it was later shifted to Keshavdaspuram before moving to the present location. While the group has 200 members, 150 are active farmers, of whom 23 have registered for Sunday’s sale, says KR Hariharan, an administrator. This Sunday (April 16) will be the 210th market. Sale starts at 10am.
Crowds at the Sunday market at Aramkallu in Karakulam panchayat | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Meanwhile, this Sunday will be the 200th edition of the market at Aramkallu. Run by the Sambhavna Residents Association, the market has more than a dozen farmers selling their produce every week. “We are a 600-member strong WhatsApp group, of whom 60 are actively into farming. Customers can place orders once we post the list of available items for the week. Those who book in advance will be given preference over those who have not,” says E Srirangan, spokesperson of the market. The sale starts at 7.30 am and ends within two hours.
In all these markets, the rates are fixed taking into account the rates in the local market.