M A I N   N E W S

Kinnow experiment flops, plants up for sale
Jangveer Singh
Tribune News Service

Bleak Future

Area under kinnow 40,000 hectare Total production 7 lakh tonne Amount processed this year 100 tonne Processing capacity of each plant 20 tonne per hour

Hoshiarpur/Chandigarh, September 25
It is an ambitious experiment gone awry. The two multipurpose juicing centres set up at Hoshiarpur and Abohar to free kinnow growers from continuously trying to find new markets for their produce are up for sale.

The factories, which came up at a cost of Rs 84 crore, have been lying almost idle for two years. Now, the state government is set to invite expressions of interest to sell them next week. Both boast of state-of-the-art Italian machinery and are equipped with a normal cold store and 1,000-MT deep freeze.

To the kinnow farmer, the inability of factories to procure fruit is unexplainable. Punjab Agro, whose company Punjab Agro Juices Limited runs the two units, had conceived them as linkages for fruit and vegetable growers. But facts paint a dismal picture. In the first year of operation in February 2008, the Hoshiarpur unit processed 4,000 tonne kinnow for Tropicana. The next year, Tropicana did not evince interest saying kinnows from Pakistan were cheaper. Farmers did not sell any fruit at the lower price.

This year, the Hoshiarpur unit processed 100 tonne kinnow, not even a day’s job for the factory that is capable of processing 20 tonne fruit an hour. The situation is worse at Abohar - the factory got only a small order for processing mangoes this season.

As far as kinnow is concerned, the heart of the problem lies in the fruit’s acidity content, which stabilises towards the end of the season, which is also the time domestic prices go up. A visit to kinnow-growing areas of Hoshiarpur and at Abohar revealed that no effort has been made to prepare farmers to grow fruit ideal for processing. Dedicated horticulture development officers (HDOs) like Avtar Singh and Jaspal Singh say they are ready to do so, but farmers must be assured that their produce would be picked up.

Farmers are unhappy with the two units being put up for sale. They maintain there is lack of will on the government’s part to run the factories. They say contract farming, assured pick-up and fair prices could help the two suits stage a financial turnaround. Renowned horticulturist Deepak Puri suggested that Markfed could also easily bottle and sell kinnow juice or its mixes.

Kinnow grower Jaswant Singh Chautala advocated sale and processing of kinnow byproducts to help units offer farmers a better price. Among other byproducts, farmers and experts are all praise for one wonder element: Limonin. Found primarily in orange and lemon pips and known for its cancer-fighting properties, Limonin is concentrated in kinnow. Laboratory tests have shown that Limonin fights cancers of the mouth, skin, lung, breast and colon.

“Besides Limonin, other byproducts that could be extracted include peel oil and pectin, both detoxifiers,” said Horticulture Department Deputy Director Gurkanwal Singh.

Meanwhile, Punjab Agro Managing Director SK Sandhu claimed that the units were established to create a processing industry in the state. He said both factories had acquired acceptability and that the disinvestment was part of a larger plan to let the private sector run plants once the technology was proven. Punjab Agro Juices Limited CEO KG Sharma stressed on joint efforts by growers, scientists, horticulturists and teams in processing plants and marketing staff to make the experiment a success. But then, is anyone listening?