Maharashtra government inks MoUs with Ruchi Soya, United Phosphorous.

The Maharashtra government recently signed deals with Ruchi Soya and United Phosphorous as part of its efforts to scale up the Public Private Partnership for Integrated Agriculture Development (PPP-IAD) initiative in the next five years.

Ruchi Soya has decided to enhance its existing Rs. 300 crore investment in the state with value chains of soybean and tomato from increasing productivity to processing.

United Phosphorous will upgrade its crop care centres, which work on improving yield and post harvest losses, from existing 10 to 100 in the state, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis told reporters after attending a round table discussion on opportunities for investments and partnership in the agriculture sector.

Nearly 2.5 lakh soybean farmers and 1.15 lakh tomato growers will be brought under the value chain, he said, adding that Jain Irrigation and Hindustan Unilever have also agreed to invest in the initiative.

Fadnavis said about 40 companies attended recent's meeting and they will work with government to set up value chains, adding that the initiative which came up in the state with help of World Economic Forum (WEF) three years ago, would be scaled up and expanded.


ET