Horticulture Company INI Farms & USA-based Munger Farms have entered into a Joint Venture (JV) to grow blueberries in India and export pomegranates. The two companies have selected Marathwada, Pune, Ahmednagar and Western Maharashtra to cultivate the fruit.
Currently, blueberries are available at Rs. 4,000 per kilogram in the retail market. INI Farms that is presently into Banana, Coconut and Pomegranate cultivation is planning to bring in its product in the retail market in the next 2 to 3 years.
Chairman of INI Farms, Pankaj Khandelwal said, “Our relationships with farmers in India and their expertise in cultivating blueberries will be a great opportunity for us. Munger farm will invest in research in India & we will focus on the distribution.”
Owner & Director, Munger Farms, David Munger said that presently, they are successful in growing and marketing blueberries all over the world adding that India is a tough market to transport fresh blueberries to while maintaining quality upon arrival. He said, “That is why we need to be closer to the market”.
Munger also said that “Within 2-3 years, we will be able to be thorough with the research & in a position to expand to the retail market”. Slowly the company will have full berry varieties in India, moving to strawberry next.
As we know that weather conditions in India are tropical and erratic. Few regions face widespread drought while the others reel under excess rainfall.
Munger told that his firm had developed a way to cultivate the fruit in California that also has tropical weather. He added “Picking the right variety, right region, technology & right growing conditions is what we are looking at”.
He said that the company will test many new technologies, techniques, varieties, field structures & technology. He explained that “We are also going to use technology to reuse water from the remains of plants to work around the drought situation. We will pick the berries at the fixed time to avoid wastage”.
