The Hindu Business Line : Yendal begins commercial production of amla juice

Coimbatore, Jan. 17 The Yendal Farm at Pattiveeranpatti in Dindigul District has commenced commercial production and marketing of the amla (embilica officinalis) juice under the Yendal Ju-‘C’ brand.

Speaking to Business Line, Mr Arun R. Nagaraj of Yendal Farms recalled his efforts at perfecting the formula for making of the amla - commonly known as the Indian gooseberry - juice, both sweetened and sugar-free. ‘We have been trying to get it right for close to a year now. While the food processing industry offers enormous scope, the guidance if any, is inadequate,’ Mr Nagaraj said.

Yendal has invested over Rs 30 lakh (including land and building) towards establishing a pilot plant with a daily processing capacity of 500 kg of the fruit.

On availability of the fruit, he said the acreage under amla was increasing rapidly in the South with the demand picking up on the retail front as also from processing industry.

Further with the National Horticulture Board encouraging cultivation of fruit-bearing trees and the industry offering a better rate to the growers, the area under amla is estimated to have risen to about 9,000 acres (in Tamil Nadu alone), he said.

Acreage increasing

The major amla cultivation areas in Tamil Nadu are Salem, Dindigul, Villupuram and Nagercoil.

While the agro climatic conditions favours amla cultivation, even a relatively small unit such as Yendal (which commenced trial production in April, but took to commercial production only in October) has been compelled to source the fruit from upcountry markets, due to non-availability of the raw material in adequate quantities in that belt.

Sourcing fruit

‘We get 55-60 per cent recovery from the large-sized fruit – the Faizabad variety. The farm varsity in Tamil Nadu popularised the BSR variety. This gives juice recovery of 45 per cent,’ Mr Nagaraj said adding that at Yendal – both these were used in extraction process.

Yendal sources its fruit requirement from the Oddanchattiram market, offering Rs 2 more than the market rate. ‘The smaller fruit is generally quoted at Rs 8-10 a kg and the bigger ones range between Rs 13 and Rs15 a kg during the season. But the traders have started to hike the rates consequent to our offer. We need a floor price,’ he said.

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