At a recent India-Africa partnership conference in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, a number of large Indian firms stated a desire to develop commercial farming operations in African countries.
Livemint.com reported state-owned trading firm MMTC plans to cultivate pulses in Tanzania and Kenya.
“India has a perpetual shortage of pulses. At present, black-eyed pea and pigeon pea is coming from Myanmar, which is a very unstable market,” MMTC director of marketing and acting chairman and managing director HS Mann, told Livemint.com.
“So we want to diversify in countries such as Tanzania, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi and Mozambique. We are looking at avenues such as government-to-government procurement, contract farming and long-term assured procurement,” he said.
Opportunities may arise to produce fruit and vegetables in these nations, with some Middle Eastern countries having already invested in horticultural production ventures in Africa.
Also attending the conference were delegates from Bharti Enterprises and the Indian Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative, as well as India’s commerce minister Anand Sharama.
