New Delhi, Dec. 6: Manmohan Singh is likely to unveil his government?s new ?mission? next week ? an horticulture mission that aims to give vegetable and fruit growers a better deal and put in place a quicker, more effective producer-consumer mechanism.

The nuts and bolts of the ?mission? were put in place by the Planning Commission in a project report submitted to the Prime Minister today. In keeping with Singh?s view that the thrust areas are growth and infrastructure, designed to attract investments and generate jobs, the plan panel described the horticulture sector as a ?major area of employment generation?.

Sources in the Prime Minister?s Office said: ?With the growth of urbanisation, the urban demand for fruits and vegetables is growing unprecedentedly. The supply chain mechanism is not in place.?

The horticulture mission is supposed to create more jobs in villages in transportation, marketing, packaging and retail distribution. On the infrastructure front, planners envisage more cold chains and refrigeration facilities and the making available of credit on easy terms.

Sources said the initial focus will be on transportation. Sources said at present at least 20 to 30 per cent of the produce goes waste because it is not transported to consumers on time. Bar Kerala, no state has set up cooperatives for fruit and vegetable growers, including Gujarat, the pioneer of the cooperative movement.

Sources said the mission hopes to provide vegetable and fruit growers, categorised among the marginal and small peasantry and outside the ambit of the Green Revolution which benefited wheat and rice growers, a ?better? deal in keeping with the rising numbers who need their services.

The plan panel blueprint lists ambitious goals: doubling of current production, increasing the per capita availability of fruits and vegetables, increasing horticulture exports, investments in research and development and improving irrigation.