BHC Agro eyes cold storage foray

BHC Agro India Private Limited, which offers Israeli farming technology, is planning to enter new areas like setting up cold storage networks and the packaging and processing segment of the food processing industry.

The company which is a subsidiary of BHC of Israel is also in the process of extending its contract farming operations to an area of 17,000 acres of drought-prone land in the state.

"The company is keen on venturing into new areas like cold storage chain, processing and packaging. For this, we are looking for foreign partners also. The new ventures are likely to take off in the next 18 months and funds are never a constraint," BHC Agro India president Pat Rao said.

BHC Agro, which commenced its operations in India with a pilot scale project in 1997 in Kuppam area of Chittoor district, is now making efforts to expand the area under its coverage to 17,000 acres of drought-prone land in the districts of Chittoor, Ranga Reddy, Mahboobnagar and Vizianagaram.

The company has so far spent around Rs 18 crore in India. It helps farmers produce export quality fruits and vegetables and procures produce from farmers for exports.

From Kuppam, BHC exported 1,380 tonnes of baby corn, peprochini, Greece pepper, baby onion and gherkin in 2000-01. The produce was valued at $862,100. In 2001-02, it shipped 1,860 tonnes of smooth cucumber and gherkin valued at $933,200.

In 2003-04, the company exported 1,219 tonnes of gherkin, jalapino and cherry tomatoes, amounting to $727,700. During the current year so far, BHC has exported 50 tonnes of pomegranates, 10 tonnes of potato and 200 tonnes of gherkin valued at $60,000, $2,000 and $120,000 respectively.

A pilot project was taken up in 1997 at the instance of the state government to introduce best Israeli farming practices to raise water use efficiency, improve productivity and increase value addition. Seven years later, the area coverage under the Israeli technology crossed 2,000 acres.

The company signed an MoU with the state government last year to cover an area of 14,000 acres in Chittoor district itself and 1,000 acres each in the three districts of Ranga Reddy, Mahboobnagar and Vizianagaram. The company on its own expanded to the another drought-prone district, Anantapur.

The company's success is more explicit in Anantapur district which is a highly drought-prone area in Andhra Pradesh. The major crop cultivated is groundnut and a large number of farmers also grow horticultural crops like mango, pomegranate, sapota, guava and papaya.

More than 10,000 acres are under pomegranate cultivation. Ganesh, Mridula and Bagwa are the important varieties of this fruit. Red varieties like Mridula and Bagwa were identified by BHC as fit for export to European countries.

He said BHC Agro had started pomegranate exports from Anantapur district over the last one year. The fruit is exported to Holland by purchasing it directly from farmers.

Farmers were earlier facing problems from middlemen in selling their produce at markets in Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata. BHC fixed a price of Rs 26 per kg throughout the season, against the prevailing prices of Rs 12-15 per kg. It has thus put an end to price fluctuations hitherto faced by the farmers.

This attracted farmers in large numbers to cultivate good quality pomegranates. "After BHC started exports from the area, the farmers are maintaining the crop in good condition. There has been a considerable increase in the yield. New farmers are eager to grow pomegranate due to satisfactory prices, thus increasing the cultivated area," Pat Rao said.