The largest paddy seeds producer in the Eastern region, Pallishree Ltd of the B K Roy Group of companies, today said it will set up two potato and wheat production and processing units in Punjab and Haryana.
"We aim to achieve leadership positioning in the production of potato and wheat seeds as well. To this end, we will set up two production and processing units in Punjab and Haryana," company's newly-appointed Managing Director Baibhab Kumar Roy said. Roy said that since the climate and soil of the eastern region were not the best suited for producing wheat and potato seeds, setting up facilities to produce high quality seeds in these two states would not only be economical for the company but also for farmers since the yield would be higher.
Punjab and Haryana are self-sufficient in the production of wheat and potato seeds and thus it would not be prudent on the part of the company to feed the markets there, he said.
The Rs 1,200 crore potato seeds market of West Bengal, the second largest potato producing state in the country, mainly imports the seeds (tubers) from Punjab. Taking the needs of other states into consideration, the demand for good quality potato seeds alone would be in the range of Rs 2,000 crore, he said.
