The Hindu Business Line : Aachi Masala to enter contract farming for raw materials

Chennai, Oct. 1 Aachi Masala Foods (P) Ltd, the Rs 270-crore spices and curry mix products manufacturer, plans to get into contract farming to source raw materials, according to Mr A. Padmasingh Isaac, Founder & Chairman, Aachi Masala.

Mr Isaac said the objective is to widen its market base and enhance competitiveness to get into international markets including Europe. The company is now a regional player with a strong presence in the southern States and in countries with large Indian population.

Aachi Masala sources over 400 commodities including spices from the open market and the recent upward spike in prices has impacted the company. The company purchases over 5,000 tonnes of chillies a month, 2,000 tonnes of turmeric and coriander. Contract farming of these crops would benefit the farmers and the company, he said.

Another concept that Aachi Masala was exploring is the ‘Aachi Kitchen’, he told reporters at a seminar on food processing industry, ‘Farm to Fork’, organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

The company hopes to adopt a village and the farm lands and introduce vegetable cultivation with the produce being processed at the facility set up by Aachi Masala. This would be a diversification for the company, he said.

Addressing the seminar, Mr Isaac said that the company had started from scratch over a decade ago. It had consciously focussed on the rural markets initially and “Aachi’s success was in rural marketing”.

The company had exclusively targeted the rural market and consolidated its position before entering the urban markets five years ago. Thanks to the Government initiatives to support farmers, including the employment guarantee scheme (NREGA) there is abundant liquidity in the rural areas.

Nearly 60 per cent of Aachi’s business is from rural areas, 30 per cent from the urban centres and the balance from exports, he said.

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