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Celebrating 20 Years: Mahindra’s Contribution to Indian Grape Exports!

MATRA, Mahindra Agri Solutions Limited, celebrates 20 years of exporting delicious table Grapes from India to global markets, making top-quality, sustainably grown food available globally. MASL is constantly upgrading productivity, quality, and farmer incomes with the most sophisticated packhouse in Nashik, with 500+ farmer partnerships, while also working towards setting the glass and conscious consumer benchmarks with its sustainable practices and innovative packaging.

Mahindra Agri Solutions Leading Indian Table Grape Exports

Mahindra Agri Solutions Limited (MASL), a part of Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., one of India’s leading exporters of table grapes with exports to global markets, has completed 20 years today. Since Mahindra’s inaugural shipment of grapes to be exported to Europe in 2005, MASL has exported to customers in North America, Europe, China, Southeast Asia, and others with the utmost quality, safety standards, and sustainable practices. Under its Saboro and Frukinz brands, MASL exports a huge range of grapes, including White Seedless grapes; Thomson, Sonaka, and red seedless grapes; Flame, Crimson, and Black Seedless grapes; Jumbo; and Sharad.

MASL’s 20-Year Legacy: Transforming Indian Grape Farming

MASL’s grape business has top-end tech in post-harvest management and is backed by a ‘state-of-the-art’ grape pack house in Nashik. Opened in 2019, the pack house is employed for modern sorting facilities, packing, and cold storage of table grapes as it effectively integrates the processing, ensures the crop’s freshness along the passage, and also allows product traceability throughout the supply chain.

MASL’s Grapes operation collaborates with over 500 farmers

A critical segment of the region’s agricultural framework, MASL’s Grapes operation collaborates with over +500 farmers across Nashik, Baramati, and Sangli, seeking premium table grapes from these farmers and extending expertise to these farmers in grape cultivation and crop care. These range from better irrigation and cultivation practices to lower chemical inputs and water use, reducing} the carbon footprint associated with the crop while also dramatically increasing grape grower incomes.

Creating jobs and contributing to social welfare

In addition to changing the landscape regarding table grape cultivation and management, MASL also plays an active role in the local economy by creating jobs and contributing to social welfare. Farmers using MASL have been able to attain a 3X increase in their exportable yields (2.5MT per acre to 7.5MT per acre).

MASL’s 20-Year Milestone: Revolutionizing Indian Table Grape Exports

Commenting on MASL’s 20 years of grape exports milestone, Ramesh Ramachandran—Managing Director & CEO, MASL—said, “We at MASL are extremely proud of what we have achieved over the last 20 years through our grape business. We set out with the aim to sustainably improve the quality, productivity, and profitability of farming with a high-value fruit crop like grapes, and this is a testament to our commitment to transform farming across the entire agriculture value chain. Our endeavor has brought Indian table grape growers’ produce from India to the rest of the world in an altogether new light. We have also been fortunate to make a positive difference in the lives of many hundreds of growers in the region.”

Ramesh said, “Our grape packhouse in Nashik, built with the latest sorting, packaging, and storage facilities, has set new benchmarks in the industry. The facility is well known for its systematic effort to adhere to the highest levels of quality, taste, and traceability, resulting in every shipment out of the packhouse meeting the demanding adherence to globally requisite standards.”

Mahindra Grape Packhouse: Quality and Innovation

Mahindra Grape packhouse has over 75,000 square feet of land and 6.5 acres of land area and can pack 80 metric tons (MT) of grapes a day. The packhouse houses 12 precooling chambers and two cold storage facilities with a capacity of 170 MT each to maintain the fresh shelf life of the grape produce. Boasting over 500 employees on a shift basis, the grape packhouse processes are professionally managed and controlled by MASL’s qualified executives, and that ensures the packhouse delivers on quality, consistency, and traceability for markets worldwide.

Mahindra’s Grape Packhouse facility

Mahindra’s Grape Packhouse facility is built at the heart of sustainability. All locations are equipped with energy-efficient LED lights along with captive generation of solar power. They have a rainwater harvesting system that collects and stores up to 7 million liters of water. Among them, one item is an in-house sewage treatment plant, which generates usable non-potable water in quantities enough for hundreds of purposes, including gardening. Besides domestic certification by FSSAI and APEDA, the Grape Packhouse is also certified by international bodies, including BRCGS (British Retail Consortium), Fairtrade, SMETA (SEDEX), Global Gap, Grasp, and Spring.

MASL provides technical training

MASL provides technical training primarily through in-house technical sessions for the growers with a focus on key cultivation practices, such as irrigation management, soil moisture management, and nutrient management, along with financial assistance and technical support with a focus on environmental sustainability and engagement of local communities. In a bid to aid better understanding of these sustainable practices among farmers, MASL has a sprawling demo farm spread over 15 acres in Nashik, where new practices and varieties are being tested and from which the company shares wide-ranging knowledge of growing good-quality grapes with farmers in its network.

On the occasion of the anniversary celebration, MASL will establish stronger linkages with local farmers for more training and support on sustainable farming practices and identify opportunities for table grapes and other high-value horticultural produce for local markets and export.

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