'We can 'pick to pack' within a day'

Bangalore-headquartered Global Green is a key constituent of the diversified Avantha Group. Besides pioneering the cultivation and export of gherkins (pickled cucumbers), Global Green was recently in the news for acquiring Hungary-based Puszta Konzerv, a move which would help the company to get an expanded footprint in Europe. Mr Vineet Chhabra, managing director and group CEO of Global Green spoke to ET about Global Green���s experience, challenges in the agriculture sector in India and other issues.


Global Green has been in the agriculture sector for over a decade. How has the experience been?

We have enjoyed what we are doing and have built scale and capability. Today, as a company we have over 50,000 hectares under gherkin cultivation in India spread across states like Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Besides this, we also have access to horticulture produce in countries like Turkey and Hungary.

Global Green has taken a leaf out of the success of Indian IT companies and helped to push the concept of being a producer of highest quality at the lowest cost. We have positioned ourselves as a company which can ���pick to pack��� within 24 hours.

What, according to you, are the key issues facing agriculture?

I think the single most important issue is variability in agriculture, something not limited to India. Climate and water are the two sides of the same coin. In developed markets like US or Europe, the cycle for growing and harvesting crops is limited. Bad weather means we have no insurance in the form of a second crop, something that India offers.

Water is an issue. We see there are rains one week and no rains the next. How do you iron out these issues? We all live in the hope of things getting better.

Of late, there has been talk that India can tap into the rising global demand for agriculture produce. Do you think that India can pull it off?

I think we are blessed that India has an opportunity staring on its face. Remember, farming elsewhere is carried out over a limited period of time, lasting for a maximum of 100-120 days and one has to ensure that all inputs (for something like gherkins) be it salt, vinegar, bottles and caps be made available on time because a delay means a delay and you can���t afford to lose even one second.

Cold winter means most of the developed world can���t grow anything but India has the right climatic conditions which can allow you to take about 2.5 to 3 crops a year. Very few nations can boast of this advantage that India has.

But what about China? One gets the feeling that China which has been nicknamed as the ���factory of the world��� could now become a food producer for many nations...

While China is many, many times bigger than India but it also has the same problem like many other nations���cold weather. It is this advantage which India can make use of to its benefit and become a bigger player in the global agriculture market.

Agriculture in India suffers from scale and is heavily dependent on government support. Does this discourage private investment in this sector?

The key to see more private sector participation is to encourage the entrepreneurial spirit. Today, we have many businessmen be it the Bharti group or Reliance evincing interest in Indian agriculture. Entrepreneurship coupled with vision can help to attract more investment in the agriculture sector.

But that does not mean that the government should not be involved with agriculture. It can help to provide a seamless policy like say amend the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Act and put the right things on the table, all of which would be of great help.

It is said that growth of retailing in India would help provide an impetus for agriculture.

Retailing, as is being spoken of, is focused much on the front end. But the important issue is to focus on the back-end, improve the supply chain.

Remember that Indians are still huge fresh food consumers and the usual crop to consumption time frame ranges anywhere between say 10 to 24 or 48 hours from the time of harvest . The issue of price can be addressed if one focuses on quality.