Anantapur: Horticulture producers seek amenities to get better price

Anantapur: Taking advantage of the large acreage of horticulture plantations in the district and the volume of horticulture produce business, processing plants can be set up in the district on the lines of Chittoor district where tens of fruits and food processing plants are operating. The district boasts of being a fruit basin but nothing of the sort is happening here.

There is a large scope for setting up of processed meat of sheep, which would be ready to use in a packed form. This product is having good demand for export markets and finding favour with urban markets.

The basic raw material is sheep meat, which is available in large quantities in the district to the extent of over 100 MTs.

At present only 40 per cent of the meat produced in the district is used in raw form. The remaining 60 per cent is sent to other places. The process being simple and the technology devised is available with CFTRI. There is good scope for meat processing units in the district.

Liquid fruits which are prepared from fruits like lime, guava, and papaya provide a natural alternative to synthetics and can be used by proper dilution and carbonation as effective soft beverages.

A process has been developed by CFTRI to manufacture clarified fruit juice from pulpy fruits like guava by enzymatic hydrolysis. The cost of the project will be around Rs 5 lakh and there is good scope for 3 to 4 units to come up.

Bananas, Pomegranates, Custard Apples, Gua, Figs, Mangoes, Musk Melon, Water Melon, Honey Melon, Papayya, Sweet Limes, Lose Jackets, Goose Berries, Straw Berries and Black Berries are some of the fruits that are being produced in the district, all put together a staggering 40 lakh tonnes with an investment of Rs 400 crores. The returns on the investment is more than Rs.6,000 crores.

Horticulture model farmer Thati Reddy, who is into exporting of some of the horticulture produce, interacting with The Hans India stated that food and fruit processing plants should be set up to trigger in exports boom.

The government and the department of horticulture should take the lead to tie-up the farmers with corporate malls like Future group, Big Basket, More and Best Price so that farm produce can be marketed straight from farms to the destinations of corporate malls. With a simple initiative, this can happen but no one is taking the lead, he adds.

Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Seshanjeneyulu opined that the government should make the move to work with Israel for promoting 'Cooperative Farming' so that thousands of small farmers can join the mainstream through the concept. Profits can be shared equally on the basis of their investment and production. Israeli farmers are known for their cooperative farming efforts and getting excellent results.

Landlords having largeholdings of land are keeping their farmlands idle in the district due to inability to invest. In such a case cooperative farming can come to the rescue of farmers of all shades.