Horticulture SEZ: State team visits Nuziveed

The proposal to set up a Rs 41.5 crore special economic zone (SEZ) for horticulture crops at Nuziveed in Krishna district has received prompt response from the state government.

A high-level appraisal committee on Monday visited Nuziveed and assessed the scope and feasibility for setting up an SEZ.

The proposal envisages Nuziveed as a complete rural infrastructure hub, first of its kind in the country, for fruits and vegetables grown around the town, located in the upland area of the district.

The area is strategically located for such a purpose as it is here where mango is grown in about 65,000 hectare and other cash crops in 30,550 hectare. Nuziveed is also an important marketing centre for upland farmers of four neighbouring districts.

As farmers lack facilities and expertise, export companies have so far bought 230 tonne of mango from them this year. The firms could export a maximum of 350 tonne of mango to West Asian and South East Asian markets in any year.

The committee, which consisted of D K Panwar, principal secretary and chairman, Agriculture Products Commission, R M Dobriyal, executive director, State Horticulture Mission, K Bhupal Reddy, managing director of AP Agros, and KV Satyanarayana, project officer, AP Micro Irrigation, inspected a vacant 36-acre land of Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC), and a 16-acre site of the Andhra Pradesh Marketing Committee at Nuziveed for the proposed SEZ.

It also interacted with growers at the biggest mango market yard in the country at Nunna, near Vijayawada.

The SEZ project received impetus when district collector Navin Mittal took it up with Jairam Ramesh, Union minister of state for commerce and industry, during the latter's recent visit to Nuziveed.

The minister immediately responded favourably for the project by promising Rs 22.5 crore Central funds. When the collector also sought Rs 15 crore from the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) and Rs 4 crore from the ministry of food processing, Jairam Ramesh responded positively.

The proposed SEZ is expected to benefit thousands of farmers of upland areas of Krishna, Guntur, Prakasam, West Godavari and Khammam districts.