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Mahindra HZPC launches aeroponics unit to support seed potato in Mohali
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Monday, 14 November, 2016, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Our Bureau, Bengaluru
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fiogf49gjkf0d fiogf49gjkf0d Mahindra HZPC, a 60:40 joint venture of Mahindra Agri Solutions Limited (MASL) and HZPC, opened a modern aeroponics facility to support the company’s seed potato business in Mohali.
Aeroponics is a plant cultivation technique in which the roots are suspended in the air while nutrient solutions are delivered in a fine mist.
The process is known to give the best quality of potato seeds to the Indian farmers. The advanced greenhouse technology will increase productivity and protect plants against environmental diseases.
Besides it will reduce the time to market by 50 per cent for new potato varieties, so the processing industry will be able to launch new varieties into their production programmes faster.
For farmers, this will translate into virus-free seeds which will increase productivity by 10-30 per cent, providing the much-needed fillip to farmer incomes.
The facility was inaugurated by the Netherlands’ ambassador Alphonsus Stoelinga, in the presence of Ashok Sharma, managing director and chief executive officer, MASL, and Gerard Backx, chief executive officer, HZPC Holding B V.
“As pioneers of farming technology in India, Mahindra is committed towards building disruptive innovations that bring significant benefits for our farmer community as well as end consumers. Aeroponics is one such example which will drastically change the landscape of agriculture by providing world-class seeds to our farmers which will lead to higher productivity and increased cultivation,” said Sharma.
“This is in line with our vision of Delivering FarmTech Prosperity. Consumers too will feel the advantage as they will be able to experience more and differentiated choices in food,” he added.
The aeroponics facility will grow plants suspended in a closed environment, without the use of soil. This advanced technology in agriculture provides necessary nutrients to the plants through spraying atomised nutrient-rich water to the suspended roots and lower stems.
Aeroponics will be highly useful both for the B2B and B2C segments.
The facility has a capacity to generate 3 million mini-tubers, and the first production batch is slated to be out in January 2017. The company plans to launch six new varieties of potato, half of which will cater to the end consumers and the remaining for the processing sector.
“Mahindra HZPC owns another facility in Palampur, Himachal Pradesh; which together with the new aeroponics facility, is capable of generating 15 million mini-tubers within a couple of years,” said the company.
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