Diversified company ITC, which recently forayed into the packaged fresh fruits and vegetable segment, plans to ramp up the distribution of its brand Farmland in the top seven metros in the next two to three years.

The company had last year, launched packaged potatoes in four variants in Delhi and recently expanded this range to apples with the assurance of “no wax” under the Farmland brand.

S Sivakumar, Group Head-Agri & IT Businesses, ITC, said: “The potential in the packaged fresh fruits and vegetables is huge. We are focussing our efforts on development of this category. We will add more products under brand Farmland as there are more vegetables and fruits lined up for launch. We will expand the distribution of Farmland to the top seven metros in the next two to three years.” He said that the company is working on adding several other vegetables to the brand, including green vegetables which will require cold chain infrastructure.

In terms of packaged fresh fruits, the company is experimenting with fruits such as mangoes, pomegranates and bananas.

“We will also look at adding more variants of potatoes and apples this year too. Since we have developed the supply chain and channel strategy in Delhi, we will initially focus on Delhi before adding more cities,” he added.

Under brand ITC MasterChef, the company had earlier launched frozen prawns and spices and has recently added dehydrated onions.

“As of now, we have launched ITC MasterChef Smart Onions which are dehydrated red onions for institutional consumers. We will look at launching it in smaller packs for the B2C segment in the next 6-12 months,” Sivakumar added.

Replying to a query on the impact on private players due to higher MSP on commodities such as wheat, he said: “The national priority of raising farmers’ income will mean some degree of higher pricing for consumers. Therefore, private players will play a key role in bringing in efficiencies with more food processing so that farmers get more value for their produce and consumers do not get penalised with higher prices. ”

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