SA keen to set up processing units in Punjab

South African High Commissioner to India France Morule has evinced interest in setting up agro-processing joint ventures in Punjab, especially in packaging and marketing kinnow juice, since the state is a major producer of kinnow and South Africa, too, is a leader in the production of citrus fruits, besides having a substantial fruit processing sector.

Morule has invited state Chief Minister P S Badal to lead a business delegation to South Africa to explore the potential in agriculture, coal, food processing, textiles and hosiery because, with South Africa being a duty free zone, there is potential to export from there to other parts of the world.

Badal has formally invited the envoy, who recently visited Punjab, to lead a high-level delegation of progressive farmers from South Africa to the four-day progressive agriculture summit at Mohali from February 16-19. He has also urged Morule to send a team of agro-processing experts to Punjab, to explore ways of enhancing value-addition in other fruits such as guavas and peaches.

According to Vikramjit Singh Sahney, South Africa's honorary consul for Northern India, 80 per cent of the agricultural produce of South Africa is processed, compared to a mere two per cent in Punjab.