CHENNAI: As people remained indoors and essentials became scarce during the early stages of COVID-19 lockdown, Tamil Nadu's farm-to-table initiative, "E-thottam" ensured supplies of vegetables and fruits and averted a major food crisis during April and May.
The Tamil Nadu government had imposed the lockdown on March 24 to stem the spread of the coronavirus, then only allowing sale of essential commodities, and that too with restrictions in place.
The "E-thottam" (e-garden) initiative, which received a bit of criticism over delivery issues, had however kept the supply chain unbroken by helping the farm produce directly reach the people in the metro during the trying times.
"It was a very challenging task during the initial phase of the pandemic, though things are different now.
We had to convert the challenge into an opportunity as we didn't want the farmers to suffer losses during the initial phase of lockdown," a senior horticulture department official said.
There was panic buying when the government relaxed the lockdown rules to allow the people buy the much needed essential commodities.
On the flip side, the sudden closure of the city's historic Koyambedu market due to the infection had made the people worried, he explained.
Also, the distraught farmers found difficulties in moving their produce owing to the non-availability of trucks.
Understanding the gravity of the situation, the state government permitted the movement of essential commodities.
And then, making them reach the people who have been asked to remain indoors was the next challenge.
And this was where the Tamil Nadu government's farm-to-table initiative came to the rescue rather unexpectedly.
Apart from vegetables, fruits like mango, guava, watermelon and jackfruit sourced from farmers in Krishnagiri, Salem, Kanyakumari, Tiruvallur, Kancheepuram and Villupuram districts were offered through the E-Thottam portal of the Tamil Nadu Horticulture and Plantation Crops Department.
With the nationwide lockdown announced in March, the department began door deliveries of essentials as an emergency response, handling about 2,000 orders a day.
Nearly, 200 persons from the department in the city, besides 500 across the state, were involved in the operation.
City resident Suresh said he had ordered mangoes through the portal.
"I had ordered mangoes through E-thottam but got them delivered late. The mangoes were rotten by the time they reached me. However, they were replaced quickly after I complained," he said.
On certain complaints of delayed deliveries, an official said, "there has been some delay in certain cases due to logistics issue during COVID-19 crisis. But we ensured that they were delivered." The vegetables and fruits were packed at Chitlapakkam, Semmozhi Poonga and horticulture farm at Madhavaram, before being delivered.
Since early this month, the department stopped the supply of its Rs 300 and Rs 500 packages as the essentials are now freely available in the market.