ITC to work closely with Punjab-based farmers

Girja Shankar Kaura

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 7

Kolkata-based conglomerate ITC will work closely with farmers, especially wheat and fruit growers, in Punjab to improve their yield and quality of products.

S Sivakumar, Group Head — ITC’s Agri Business, today said the company would be looking to increase its intake of wheat and fruits from Punjab for the flour and juices that it manufactures.

For the purpose, the company has also started a new facility at Kapurthala from where it would be helping the farmers across the state to improve their yields with better quality seeds and other techniques.

Spread over nearly 71 acres, this state-of-the-art food processing facility entails an initial investment outlay of Rs 1,500 crore. It will create large-scale livelihoods across sustainable agri-value chains. This world-class facility will manufacture ITC’s popular food brands such as ‘Aashirvaad’, ‘Bingo!’, ‘Sunfeast’, ‘YiPPee!’ and ‘B Natural’ among others.

It has set a target of procuring around 60,000 tonnes of wheat from farmers in Punjab in 2018-19.

Sivakumar said ITC’s investment in the food processing sector in Punjab will add significant value to the state’s agriculture potential.

ITC believes that the food processing sector, being at the intersection of agriculture, industry and services, can make a multi-dimensional contribution to the state’s economy by enhancing the competitiveness of the food-value chain, adding value to manufacturing and helping create sustainable livelihoods along the entire value chain.

This facility will also include a wheat mandi which will enable ITC to procure directly from farmers, reducing transaction costs, improving efficiency and thereby raising income of farmers.