Jain Irrigation takes up onion contract farming in Gujarat

After having established its strong presence in Maharashtra for contract farming, Jain Irrigation Systems Ltd (JISL), India's largest player in onion dehydration market, has set its eyes on Gujarat for undertaking contract farming of onion.

On experimental basis the company has already brought 62-100 acres of land under onion contract farming in tribal district of Dahod since the beginning of 2010. JSIL has tied-up with Satguru Foundation, a non-goverment organisation (NGO), for undertaking contract farming in the tribal district.

"The company aims to cover 500 acres under onion contract farming this year and subsequently scale it up to 2000-2500 acres in the next few years," said Sunil Deshpande, senior vice-president, Jain Irrigation.

JSIL has been engaged in contract farming in Maharashtra for past seven to eight years with association of 2500 farmers and a total acreage of 2500 acres under contract farming. "Around Rs 15 crore were invested for contract farming project in Maharashtra and similar amount of fund would be infused in Gujarat," he added. The company has plans to take up contract farming of onions in nearby areas of Vadodara as well.

Apart from buying back onions from tribal farmers, the company will also provide technical knowlege to the farmers for higher produce of onion.

JSIL already operates 170 metric tonnes (MT) per day onion dehydration plant near Vadodara and it plans to ramp up the capacity to 250 MT by December 2010. "The company intends to pump in Rs 10 crore for the expansion," Deshpande revealed.

In addition to Vadodara plant, the company has dehydration plants in Maharashtra and USA.

The total onion dehydration capacity of the company is around 14000 tonnes per annum, while its Jalgaon plant in Maharashtra alone has an annual onion dehydration capacity of 9500 tonnes.

Indian onion dehydration industry has grown rapidly to become the second largest producer of dehydrated onions in the world. JSIL is the largest player in the organised onion dehydration market in the country and ranks third in the global market.

Considering the huge potential for its business in international market, the company is looking at increasing production of value added products like other dehydrated vegetables, fried onion, and frozen onion in the coming year.