Date:22/03/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/03/22/stories/2006032206221900.htm

Business

Reliance Industries eyes agri-business

Special Correspondent

Raises mangoes and medicinal plants in refinery greenbelt

KOLKATA: Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) is eyeing the agri-business sector and a fruit orchard, set up as part of a greenbelt at the Jamnagar refinery of RIL in Gujarat, is set to pilot the corporate major's foray into this segment. Tapping the carbon credits market under the Clean Development Mechanism seems a distinct possibility. A company called Jamnagar Farms Pvt Ltd has already been formed.

Company officials told a visiting team of journalists at Jamnagar last weekend that of the 1,600 acres brought under horticulture in this desert-like district, 1,000 acres were already under commercial plantation. "Using methods like drip-irrigation from the refinery's waste-water as also improved farming methods, it has been possible to covert this stretch into a cash-generating venture", a company official said.

To convert the entire effort into a business venture, RIL has begun processing fruit pulps. Besides ordinary varieties such as guava and chikoo, exotic fruits like pears, pomello, fig, mulberry and bell pepper are also grown as are cashew and pomegranate. About 100 acres has been put under medicinal plants.

While this venture is seen as a part of the larger gameplan of the group to enter retailing, talks are on with some State governments to begin contract manufacturing of these fruits.