Nashik: Mahindra Agri Solutions Limited (MASL), part of Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. and a leading exporter of table grapes from India, today announced the completion of 20 years of export from India to global markets. With Mahindra’s first shipment of grapes exported to Europe in 2005, MASL caters to customers across North America, Europe, China, Southeast Asia, and others with the highest level of quality, safety standards and sustainable practices.
MASL exports a wide variety of White Seedless grapes called Thomson and Sonaka, Red seedless grapes called Flame and Crimson and Black Seedless grapes called Jumbo and Sharad under the Saboro and Frukinz brands.
Featuring world-class technologies in the post-harvest management of grapes, MASL’s grape business is supported by a ‘state-of-the-art’ grape pack house in Nashik. Inaugurated in 2019, the pack house is used for the sorting, packaging and cold storage of table grapes, ensuring end-to-end process integration while maintaining freshness of the crop along the supply chain and enabling product traceability.
An integral part of the region’s agricultural landscape, MASL’s Grapes business works closely with over 500 farmers in Nashik, Baramati and Sangli sourcing high quality table grapes from these farmers, while providing them expertise in grape production and crop care. This includes improving their irrigation and cultivation practices and reducing the usage of chemical inputs and water, leading to a reduction in carbon footprint related to the crop, while also significantly enhancing grape grower incomes.
Besides redefining the way table grapes are grown and managed, MASL plays an active role in supporting the local community through employment generation, as well as social welfare initiatives. MASL has enabled farmers to improve their exportable yields by 3X (from 2.5 MT per acre to 7.5 MT per acre).
Speaking about MASL’s milestone of 20 years of grape exports, Ramesh Ramachandran – Managing Director & CEO, MASL said, “At MASL we are extremely proud of what we have achieved through our grapes business in the last 20 years. Having set out to sustainably enhance the quality, productivity and profitability of farming through a high value fruit crop like grapes, this milestone is a perfect reflection of our commitment to transform farming across the complete agriculture value chain. The result of our efforts can be seen in the significant improvement in how Indian table grapes are produced and exported from India to other parts of the world. We are also privileged to have been able to positively impact the lives of many hundreds of growers in the region.”
Ramesh further added, “With state-of-the-art sorting, packaging, and storage facilities, our grape packhouse in Nashik sets new industry benchmarks. The facility is renowned for its systematic approach to maintaining the highest standards of quality, taste and traceability ensuring that each despatch from the packhouse meets the exacting standards of global customers.”
Covering over 75,000 square feet, the Mahindra Grape packhouse is housed within 6.5 acres of land and can pack 80 metric tons (MT) of grapes per day. The packhouse has 12 precooling chambers and two cold storage facilities each with a capacity of 170 MT to preserve the freshness of grape produce. Employing over 500 employees on a per shift basis, the grape packhouse processes are professionally managed and controlled by MASL’s qualified executives, ensuring the packhouse delivers on quality, consistency and traceability for markets world over.
Sustainability is at the very core of Mahindra’s Grape Packhouse facility. Energy efficient LED lights are installed at all places, with provisions for captive solar power generation. A rainwater harvesting system collects and stores up to 7 million litres of water. Amongst other sustainable solutions, there is an in-house sewage treatment plant which provides usable non-potable water for myriad purposes including gardening. The Grape Packhouse facility is also certified by international bodies such as BRCGS (previously called British Retail Consortium), Fairtrade, SMETA (SEDEX), Global Gap, Grasp and Spring, besides having domestic certification as well by FSSAI and APEDA.
With a focus on environmental sustainability and local community engagement, MASL conducts in-house technical sessions for growers addressing key cultivation practices like irrigation management, soil moisture management and nutrient management, while providing technical support and financial assistance. To better help farmers understand these sustainable practices, MASL has an extensive 15 acres demo farm in Nashik, where new farming practices and varieties are tested and from where the company shares extensive knowledge of growing quality grapes with farmers in its network.
As part of this anniversary celebration, MASL will further enhance its partnerships with local farmers, offering more training and support in sustainable farming practices as well as exploring relevant domestic and export opportunities for table grapes and other high value horticultural produce.