Mumbai: The agriculture division of Mahindra & Mahindra has entered into a joint venture with Holland-based seed company HZPC for sourcing high quality potato seeds for Indian farmers.
The 100-year-old HZPC is into potato breeding, growing seed potato and trading. Mahindra will hold 60 per cent in the joint venture.
The new company plans to construct a modern facility to produce tissue culture plants and mini-tubers.
The aim of the facility is to offer high quality mini-tubers and early generation seed potatoes to farmers.
Mahindra, which started the seed potato business in 2005, has about 600 farmers growing seed potato through contract farming arrangements.
The company supplies farmers with high quality mini-tubers which are produced at their facility at Palampur in Himachal Pradesh.
Mahindra buys back seed potato from the farmers at a minimum guaranteed price, and distributes it to farmers in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra and West Bengal. Ashok Sharma, Chief Executive (Agriculture and Allied Businesses), Mahindra & Mahindra, said the company requires special technology and additional investments in the supply chain to grow the business further.
Gerard Backx, CEO, HZPC, said the joint venture intends to provide new varieties of seed potato to Indian farmers and also open up export avenues for them.
“We have already sent the latest 19 varieties from Europe for testing in India, and are sure that some of them will go a long way in enhancing productivity in the country,” he said.
HZPC is owned by 800 international seed potato growers, and has a turnover of about €300 million.
India produces about 43 million tonnes of potato annually. Of this, about 10 per cent is used by farmers as seeds.
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