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Cherry tomatoes, a preferred ingredient in salads, curries and sauces, especially at star hotels and social gatherings, are finding their way to supermarket shelves and fruit and vegetable outlets in cities across India, thanks to the exertions of a Hyderbad-based company that farms them in arid Telangana.
Sparsh Bio, which farms them in this village in backward Rangareddy district, is betting big on the increasing popularity and acceptance of cherry tomatoes. It has establsihed an integrated cherry tomato unit on 25 acres with 30,000 sq m of hybrid poly houses for the exclusive cultivation of exotic varieties.
At the Sparsh farm, hydroponic techniques (which use no soil for cultivation) are deployed; the plants are provided with a recipe of nutrition, which ensures consistent quality and round-the-year production of the tomatoes, says Payal Raina Ghosh, Managing Director of the venture.
The seeds are sourced from Rijkzwaan, a Swiss company. The hydroponic growing facility has been built with material from France and Spain. Ghosh says, “The health benefits of cherry tomatoes are understated in India. We are the biggest producer in the country now and plan to expand into export markets soon.”
Cherry tomatoes are a typical winter crop, but they are now grown round the year; Sparsh Bio supplies them to supermarket chains in Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai and Pune under the brand label ‘Swiss Miss’. Export consignement have gone to West Asia. The unit is located close to the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Shamshabad.
Most aspects of the cultivation techniques, design and erection of the facilities have been developed by Sparsh Bio. The company uses reverse osmosis process to ensure purified water for the crop at the facility, which has FSSAI registration, export certification and APEDA registration. A packing facility that can handle 1,000 kg of cherry tomatoes a day and a cold storage have also been set up.
Cherry tomato plants offer yields for a total of 210 to 240 days a year; each plant produces 3-4 kg over the period. One acre can accomodate 5,500-5,700 plants. The tomatoes have a shelf life of 8-10 days. The major producers are Spain, Morocco and China; Europe and the Americas are the biggest consumer markets.
With a project cost of around ₹5 crore and funding through a combination of loans from IDBI and savings, the company provides employment to over 50 persons a day.
Sparsh Bio has plans to diversify into oil for pickles and a range of food supplements aimed at the health-conscious. Slimming aid supplements are in the pipelne, with a planned rollout over six months.
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