Nandan Horti Park first unit by Sept

Tomato unit is a 50:50 JV with Swiss firm, Spearhead

Nandan Horti Processing Park, the first private horticulture park initiative in the country, will see its first unit becoming operational in September this year.

A Rs 7-crore tomato processing unit, which is a 50:50 joint venture between city-based Nandan Agro Farms Private Limited and Switzerland-based Spearhead SARL, is coming up on the 100-acre Nandan Horti Processing Park at Zaheerabad in Medak district.

It will have a capacity of producing 12 tonnes of paste from 100 tonnes of tomatoes.

Speaking to Business Standard, B Jaya Kumar, director of Nandan Agro Farms, said that the company had earmarked Rs 16 crore for setting up four processing units during the current financial year.

They will process tomatoes, garlic, safed musli and aloe vera. The three units for garlic, safed musli and aloe vera would go on stream by March 2005.

Nandan Agro has an in-principal assurance from the Andhra Pradesh government to expand the park by another 500 acres. The company will also soon sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the state government to bring around 4,000 acres around the park under the contract farming mode.

Kumar said the total park infrastructural facilities would cost around Rs 30 crore. The company's promoters would bring in an investment of Rs 10 crore as equity and raise an equal amount as debt. It expects the total benefits by way of subsidies from the state and central governments to total Rs 10 crore.

The park, which will have 20 units to process medicinal plant products, is to be completed in the next two years. The company is at present tying up with local farmers around the park to supply tomatoes to the new unit.

It will provide the farmers with the first generation (F1) seed for tomato crop. The company will also provide a 100 per cent buyback assurance, free advice on farming practices of international standards and facilitate crop insurance, Kumar said.

"The horti processing park is part of Nandan Agro Farms' plan to become an integrated company with backward and forward linkages in the global herbal formulations market. Nandan is already a leading player in the medicinal and aromatic plants segment in the country," Jaya kumar said.

On its own Nandan Agro cultivates safed musli in 100 acres and covers 700 acres under the plant through its franchisees. The company has secured crop insurance for the safed musli farmers from ICICI Lombard.

It has 20 franchisees covering over 5,000 acres across all states except J&K and Gujarat. The company has direct and indirect linkages with over 500 farmers cultivating various medicinal plants like safed musli, amla, aloe vera, vanilla etc, he said.

The crop insurance scheme is being expanded to crops, he said.