GI tagged Purandar figs reach Rotterdam, export trial a big success
Purandar Highlands, a Fig producing company from Purandar exported the first consignment of Figs to Hamburg and Rotterdam recently.
Geographically Indexed (GI) tagged Purandar Figs, produced by Purandar Highlands a company based in Purandar taluka of Pune district exported figs recently to Rotterdam and Hong Kong. Rohan Satish Ursal, president, Purandar Highlands informed that the company now targets to export to Hong Kong, Middle East in the coming few weeks. He said, “They survived even better than our expectations. Earlier, figs came from Turkey, Brazil and South Africa. We are happy that India has made a mark in the foreign countries by exporting Figs, which is a first time.”
While speaking to Pune Pulse, Rohan said, “Purandar figs have a unique texture, taste and flavour. Figs are known to be highly perishable and hence there were no efforts to take it global. But, when we saw that berries could survive well, when they too are highly perishable. We then thought why not figs. When exporting to foreign countries there are certain standard methods which need to be followed for which the process begins from harvesting and ends in packaging. We have tied up with Bayer Crop Science who guides us well with this and we have been doing well. The efforts of taking a global step has also been shared with farmers around us and we are happy that the farmers are thinking about the global market reach.”
Rohan further stated that the company has not limited its efforts to only exporting the fruit but also introduced bread spreads, jams, further reaching out to the retail market place.
Purandar Figs are Export Ready :
The trial shipment was sent by Purandar Highlands Farmers Producer Company Limited to Pilz Schindler GmbH, located in Hamburg, Germany and was successful as it reached there in perfect condition and was tasted and appreciated by buyers there. The trial shipment for GI tagged Purandar Figs was supported by Maharashtra State Agriculture Board department as a push to promote export of these fruits to new markets. For the last 2 months the FPC conducted pack house trials along with StePac (packaging solutions expert) from Isreal, Bayer Crop Science’s food chain department with support from Coldman Logistics and Warehouses and Jai Jinendra Cold store.In the pack house trials the Purandar figs were found to be in perfect condition for 15 days after a specific protocol was designed and followed.
Scion Agricos which is the Indian Subsidiary of Pilz Schindler supported the export of these figs to headquarters located in Hamburg, Germany.
Figs were procured from GI tagged fig farms of Mayur Lawande and Saurabh Lawande of Singhapur village of Purandar Taluka who are very progressive fig farmers.
Rohan added, “Along with me, my colleagues and directors in Purandar Highlands FPC Ramchandra Khedekar (vice president Maharashtra State Anjir Utpadak Sangha) Atul Kadlag, Ganesh Kolte, Samil Ingale, Sagar Lawande, Dipak Jagtap, along with other directors took lead in this trial project and export shipment. Ketan Wagh from StePac facilitated import of packaging material from StePac headquarters in Israel. Chetan Bhot from Bayer Crop science provided the required assistance throughout the project for implementation of GAP practices and European export protocol. Sunil Pawar, Director and MD, MSAMB, provided all the financial assistance for this project from MSAMB while Mr Warade (Manager, Exports, MSAMB) helped in planning for the consignment and other documentation and Dheeraj Kumar , Commissioner of Agriculture provided the support from various agriculture departments in facilitating the project.”
Chiranjeevi from Scion Agricos who manages India Market for Pilz Schindler provided assistance for export planning and safe passage for clearance at Hamburg airport. With this success story we now invite exporters to take notice of GI Purandar Figs as a viable export commodity and urge our farmers to now be ready to undertake progressive and modern fig and custard apple farming to seize the upcoming opportunities, Rohan concluded.
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