ITC keen to invest in organic farming, aqua cultivation in Odisha

Diversified conglomerate ITC Limited is exploring possibilities of investments in organic farming and aqua cultivation in Odisha.

"We have a lot of expansion plans at ITC Agri Business Division. Basically, we are exploring possibilities in organic farming and shrimps. In the medium-to-long-term, we are interested in investment in Odisha. However, everything is in the primitive stage", said P Venkat Ram Reddy, general manager, industry affairs, ITC Agri Business Division, on the sidelines of Krushi Odisha — Odisha Investor Summit: session on opportunities in agriculture and seafood processing sector jointly organised by Odisha's Department of Agriculture and Farmers' Empowerment and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

ITC is also looking for opportunities in organic cotton farming.

The Odisha government also unveiled a compendium of investible projects in agriculture and allied sectors in the state.

"The investible projects will attract investments ranging from Rs 500,000 to Rs 50 million (Rs 5 crore). The compendium will help the investors to invest in different sectors", said Saurabh Garg, principal secretary at the Department of Agriculture and Farmers' Empowerment of the state government.

The investible projects are identified in four sectors — agriculture, horticulture, animal resources development, fisheries, food processing and digitisation in agriculture.

Saying that Odisha needs a lot of investments in agriculture, Pradeep Maharathy, minister for Agriculture and Farmers' Empowerment stressed on the need to boost profitability in agriculture. He said that it is high time for investors to make investments in supply chain management, warehousing, cold storage, meat and fish storage.

Maharathy said that organic farming is being promoted in around 16,000 acres through Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) in 10 districts.

"The state government plans to set up 1,264 more godowns across the state with a total storage capacity of 350,000 tonnes by 2020. The Union Ministry of Food Processing Industries has approved two food parks and two cold chain projects in the state," said Amarendra Dash, former chairman, CII Odisha State Council.