A group of mango farmers in Chitoor district of Andhra Pradesh seem to be developing tastier buds with their fruits of labour. A ?mango wine? and mango fruit-flavoured water will soon be hitting the consumer market in the next two years. About 500 farmers have registered with Galla Foods Private Ltd, a member of the Amara Raja Group, which was set up in 2005 are working in tandem to blend value-added products from mangoes. Besides, another 4,000 farmers are partners in progress for the Rs 100-crore business in bringing quality fruits, selection and processing fruit concentrates and pulp for various mango delicacies.
These farmers supply over 28,000 fruits which are crushed to derive 13,500 tonne of pulp in single strength equivalent. This year, the supply is expected to increase to 28,000 fruits as the company is planning value additions. Besides, these farmers are planning to form ?farmer?s clubs?, which would assist in cooperative farming with a buyback arrangement from the company.
Galla Foods, an exporter of fruit concentrates and pulp to Europe, Japan and the US, entered the domestic market with the launch of thickest mango nectar, Gall Thick mango, in the country. Talking to FE, Jay Galla, managing director of the company said, ?We are looking at new blends and variants with mangoes as the base. Having a capacity to process 20 mt per hour, the company?s pulp plant has the technology and equipment from SIG-Manzini of Italy, and we would be soon expanding the capacity as well.?? Till date, the company has invested about Rs 53 crore for the infrastructure.
?We are working with the farming community not just as vendors but have made them an integral part of the process. We are in touch with research institutes such as the Central Food Technology Research Institute (CFTRI) for improving yields and other best practices for pre and post-harvesting season,?? Galla said. Interestingly, the Indian fruit juice market is estimated at Rs 4,800 crore with 98% contributed by fruit drinks.
Mango is the leading fruit crop of Andhra Pradesh, occupying an area of 2.76 lakh hectare which accounts for 60% of the total area under fruits with an annual production of about 3.25 lakh tonne. The major mango growing districts are Krishna, East Godavari, West Godavari, Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram, Srikakulam, Chittoor, Khammam, Karimnagar and Adilabad. Also, the youth services department of the Andhra Pradesh government has planned to execute a mango juice-vending project that is being implemented by the Chittoor District Fruit Processors? Association, as a project under the CM Employment Scheme for Youth. In addition, the Andhra Pradesh Industrial and Technical Organisation had charted few developmental programmes for the Chitoor farmers. Not to leave behind is Hindustan Coco-Cola Beverages, which used to source pulp from registered farmers in Chitoor.
