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FieldFresh will source fresh fruits and vegetables through the contract-farming route from Punjab, J&K, Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Haryana and U.P.

GOING FARM-FRIENDLY: Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild, Director, ELRo Holdings, being welcomed by Mr Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman & Group MD, Bharti Enterprises, and Mr Rakesh B. Mittal, Joint MD, Bharti Tele-Ventures, at a press conference in the Capital on Thursday to announce the 50:50 joint venture for export of fresh fruits and vegetables. - Kamal Narang

New Delhi , Sept. 16

AGRI-business seems to be the latest mantra among corporates. Today, it was the turn of Bharti Enterprises Ltd (BEL) to announce a foray into the sector through FieldFresh Foods Private Ltd, a 50:50 joint venture with the Rothschild Group-controlled ELRo Holdings India Ltd.

The Chairman and Group Managing Director of BEL, Mr Sunil Bharti Mittal, told presspersons here that the new venture would involve an initial investment of $50 million (Rs 250 crore), with both BEL and ELRo Holdings contributing $10 million each worth of equity.

"This is a totally independent venture and will not have any bearing on BEL's telecom business through Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd (BTVL)," Mr Mittal clarified. The new company's core business, he said, would be in the export of fresh fruits and vegetables from the country to markets such as the European Union, the United Kingdom, South East Asia and West Asia.

Mr Mittal said that FieldFresh would first source fresh fruits and vegetables through the contract-farming route from Punjab, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Haryana and West Uttar Pradesh. The products to be covered include apples, kino (citrus), litchis, cherry, tomato, baby corn, okra, lettuce, etc. In the second stage, these activities will be expanded to other parts, particularly the premier horticulture belt of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh for products such as grapes, mangoes and bananas.

"Punjab will be our hub, where we also plan to set up an agri-research centre and a model farm to carry out research and extension work on improved hybrid seeds and farming techniques. We see our first shipments taking place 12 months from now. While initially these would be through passenger plane cargoes, we see ourselves eventually doing business of 8-10 cargo loads of 40 tonnes each per day," said Mr Ravi Deol, President and CEO, FreshField Foods.

The country's exports of fresh fruits and vegetables amounted to Rs 1,700.35 crore during 2003-04.

During 2002-03, for which disaggregated data is available, the main products exported were fresh onions (Rs 361.80 crore), other fresh vegetables (Rs 287.64 crore), walnuts (Rs 121.23 crore), fresh mangoes (Rs 84.19 crore), fresh grapes (Rs 110.15 crore) and other fresh fruits (Rs 121.74 crore).

Mr Mittal said that the Government's recent policy initiatives would provide a further fillip to agri-exports.

The 2004-05 Budget gives companies engaged in processing, preserving and packaging of fruits and vegetables 100 per cent profit deduction for 5 years and 25 per cent deduction for the subsequent 5 years under Section 80IB of the Income Tax Act.

Also, the new Foreign Trade Policy has announced various incentives including duty-free import of capital goods under the Export Promotion Capital Goods (EPCG) scheme and providing duty credit entitlement to horticulture products up to 5 per cent of the f.o.b (freight on board) value of exports.

The Director of ELRo Holdings, Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild, said that though India accounted for 14 per cent of the world's production of vegetables and 10 per cent of fruits it had poor post-harvesting infrastructure and chain of intermediaries.

This meant that the country had the highest price mark-up ratio of 3.5 times from the farm to the consumer. she said.

"China has only 60 per cent of arable land and yet produces 40 per cent more," she added.

More Stories on : Foods & Food Processing | Diversification | Horticulture/Fruits & Vegetables

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