Hyderabad: Biggest fruit market yard in Asia to come up in Koheda

Hyderabad: State Agriculture Minister S Niranjan Reddy has said that Asia's biggest fruit market is to come up at Koheda with international standards.

Addressing the media after laying the foundation for a 100-ft road with an outlay of Rs 50 lakh to the Koheda fruit market on Friday, he said, the market is going to come up with international standards in line with Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao's vision. The CM will lay the foundation for the market soon, he added.

The minister asked all stakeholders to understand the objective for the construction of the market in 178 acres which will be larger than the Delhi market.

Reddy said agricultural crops are raised in larger area, but horticultural crops yield more value. Keeping in view the changing times food habits are likely to change more rapidly in days to come. People are preferring to take more intake of vegetables and fruits resulting in an increase in horticultural crops, he said.

Against this backdrop and since the Gaddiannaram market is not sufficient, the State government is taking steps to establish food processing industries based on increasing agriculture production in Telangana. Since the State is favourable for growing horticulture crops, the minister said, "establishing the Koheda Market nearer the International Airport, Outer Ring Road will help in creating demand for it nationally and internationally."

While the layout for the new market is being prepared, the government had decided to set up a temporary fruit market at Batasingaram. Reddy said the Telangana Warehousing Corporation has also decided to establish a cold storage facility at Koheda. The main objective was to create a seed storage facility for the proposed cultivation of potato in 50,000 acres. The minister, during his interaction with farmers and traders in Koheda, said that shops will be allocated as per norms, without troubling anyone.