Desai Fruits Venture (DFV), a Gujarat-based exporter of bananas, today dispatched the first train shipment of bananas from Tadipatri in Andhra Pradesh to Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Mumbai. As many as 43 refrigerated containers laden with 890 tonnes of high-quality bananas were despatched for export to international markets.

DFV has signed a MoU with Container Corporation of India (Concor), under the Railway Ministry, to connect banana farmers in the region to export markets.

Marco Klinge, Chief Executive Officer, said, “With the new railway infrastructure, we can now plan for significant expansion of banana procurement from Andhra Pradesh and convince more farmers to cultivate export-oriented quality of crops. We directly source high-quality bananas from FPOs and progressive farmers and export them to our clients in export markets under our Happy Banana brand.”

Kurasala Kannababu, Minister of Agriculture and Cooperation of AP, and Chiranjiv Choudhary, Commissioner of Horticulture, were present.

DFV is associated with more than 500 farmers cultivating bananas on more than 1,800 hectares to boost the production and export of the fruit from Anantapur and nearby districts. Pioneering Ventures, an incubator of agriculture and food ventures, has a majority stake in the banana exporter.

The Chief General Manager-South Central Region at Concor, D Satyanarayana, said, “Our trains will help farmers in a big way in connecting them to exporters like DFV. We are taking several steps to help farmers, and this is one of thm.”

India's refrigerated container market is estimated at 70,000 FEUs a year and is growing at 10 -12 per cent a year, according to reports. Additionally, India is the second-largest producer of fruits and vegetables at 130 million tonnes a year.

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