Last week, FMO announced its EUR 15 million investment in Sahyadri, a farmer-owned Farmer Producing Organization (FPO) in India. The company procures, processes and markets fruits and vegetables from its network of about 8,000 small and marginal farmers.
India lacks an efficient supply chain for the distribution of fruits and vegetables and the presence of many unorganized retailers results into wastages as much as nearly 30% and less remuneration for the farmers. FMO’s financing is expected to give a boost to the agriculture and food processing operations of Sahyadri and reduce wastages and spoilage. The new investment will help Sahyadri finance the construction of collection centres for the warehousing and transport of produce.
Pieternel Boogaard, Director Agribusiness, Food & Water at FMO: “FPOs, like Sahyadri, provide an effective platform to provide farm inputs and for marketing of output; this can immensely enhance farm productivity and increase farm income, thereby contributing to the reduction of poverty.”
Sahyadri intents to improve its supply chain management, increase its retail presence and start in house production of (semi) processed products amongst others from fruits and vegetables. Sahyadri’s product portfolio includes fresh fruits like grapes, vegetables and processed foods such as aseptic pulps and frozen fruit pulps.
Boogaard: “Sahyadri is a great fit with FMO’s goals and ambitions; the organization is green and inclusive. We are happy we can add this client to our portfolio.”
EUR 10 mln of FMO’s financing is provided by Building Prospects, a fund FMO manages on behalf of the Dutch government.
