Montek moots 'contract farming' tie-up in Oman

Oman could strengthen domestic availability of food grains by entering into ‘contract farming’ with Indian farmers, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia has said.

He said that agriculture is an important area for Omani government to invest.

“Indian law does not allow foreign companies to buy land there and therefore, Omani companies can enter into a contract farming relationship for producing the type of crop they want,” Ahluwalia told Times of Oman during his recent visit to the country.

“We have identified from our side a couple of companies that have indicated that they would be interested in tying up with Omani investors to get into contract farming arrangement,” he said adding that (Omani) companies can even specify the manner in which they want to produce the crop.

Ahluwalia was in Muscat to sign an agreement to approve a report on nine areas of cooperation for direct investment between the two countries.

“We feel that there is scope for bringing Omani investment into (India) for producing rice through contract farming system,” he was quoted as saying by the newspaper.

Ahluwalia also noted that Oman India Fertiliser Company (Omifco), a joint venture equally owned by Oman and India, can be a vehicle of investment in fertiliser sector in a third country.

“We are interested in investing in fertiliser projects within India and outside. When we invest abroad, it is linked to availability of raw materials.

In the case of Oman, additional natural gas (feedstock) is not available.But it is available elsewhere.

However, it is up to the Omifco board to take a final decision,” he said. He said that Omifco, which is an iconic venture for India, is keen to expand production capacity.

“It depends on whether additional gas can be made available to the project,” he said.