The Rs 400-crore Jalgaon, Maharashtra-based Jain Irrigation Systems Ltd (JISL) has started contract farming of onions in tribal-dominated Dohad district of Gujarat, about 160 kms from here.
Talking to PTI at the company's onion dehydration plant at Mahuva near here today, Sunil Deshpande, Head of the facility, said, "the purpose behind the move is to ensure availability of onions for the plant and ensuring minimum support price (MSP) to its growers."
The project has been undertaken by a group of tribal farmers in association with Satguru Foundation, an NGO. The company is targeting an area of 500 acres this year and then scale it up to 2,500 acres in the next few years, he said.
The Gujarat foray follows a successful contract farming programme in Maharashtra covering about 2,500 farmers, Deshpande said.
Deshpande said his company sees robust growth for their onion dehydration business in Gujarat as JISTL is India�s largest player in onion dehydration market and ranks third in the global market.
Deshpande said the company's dehydration plants are located in Jalgaon, Mahuva near Vadodara and USA and it has been exporting its products to the USA, Europe and Latin America.
