An ISO 9001:2015-certified agriculture equipment manufacturing unit has decided to shift its production unit from Bengaluru to Nellore with comprehensive facilities for the benefit of small and marginal farmers, responding promptly after meeting top officials at the Entrepreneur Summit for Promotion of Agriculture and Horticulture Industries held in Vijayawada on January 31.
Ravindra K. Agrawal, managing director of KisanKraft Ltd. said, “We are so much convinced with the commitment of the government that we will not only relocate our production unit but also scale up its operations and set up a skill development centre and demonstration unit in Nellore.”
The 12-year-old company with 16 regional offices and 3,000 dealers spread across the country plans to make Nellore project fully operational in five years.
In the presence of Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and Agriculture Minister Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy at the recently held CII Partnership Summit and Sunrise AP Investment Meet, the firm signed an MoU with the State government for investing Rs. 75 crore on the multi-faceted project.
Mr. Agrawal said Nellore would be strategically located for them for supply of various equipment to Andhra Pradesh along with Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, while stating that the head office of the firm would remain in Bengaluru.
The unit will manufacture inter-cultivators, BIS: ISI approved engines, water-pumps and expand it to add more products in phases. This project will also have R&D and testing facilities for development of new machinery, drought-resistant seeds and related technology. He said they would also set up a training and demonstration centre for farmers, technicians and rural youth as part of their commitment to enhance their income.
Mr. Agrawal said the State government had taken pro-active measures for land conversion adding they had identified about 20 hectares near Nellore for establishing the facility.
“We have witnessed a huge drop in number of farm labourers in the past two tothree decades. Migration from rural to urban areas due to reduced incomes in agriculture is the major reasons for acute shortage of labour," he said.
Source: http://www.thehindu.com/
