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Cargill inaugurates first corn silo in India with investment of Rs 70 cr
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Saturday, 14 September, 2019, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Our Bureau, Bengaluru
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Cargill recently opened its first corn silo in India in Davangere, making inroads into bulk agricultural storage in India. Built with an investment of $10 million (Rs 70 crore) and a storage capacity of 60,000 tonne, the silo is situated next to the company’s corn milling plant in the Karnataka city.
This allows Indian and global food companies access to high-quality, raw material stored at right temperature, translating to superior product quality for their food products. The silo will also provide local farmers increased market access as Cargill expands its procurement of corn locally.
It was inaugurated by chief guest G M Siddheshwara, Member of Parliament, Davangere; guest of honour S Ramappa, Member of Legislative Assembly, Harihara, Karnataka, and Simon George, president, Cargill India.
Siddheshwara said, “The major population of the local Davangere community is engaged in corn farming. With this initiative, I am happy that local farmers will get more opportunities to sell their produce, making them more profitable in the long run.”
Ramappa also inaugurated a local community initiative where Cargill has constructed a washroom in a school in Bhanuvalli village.
“Helping local communities is the joint responsibility of the industry as well as the government. It is very encouraging to see Cargill coming forward with public utility initiatives for the development of Davangere,” he added.
“As we continue to collaborate with Indian manufacturers to expand our footprint in the starches and sweetener business, this silo is an important step towards ensuring supply of top quality corn to the plant,” said George.
“We will continue to innovate for Indian and international customers and help Indian farmers align better with the market. This silo expands Cargill’s supply chain capabilities in India and the stringent food safety standards followed here will prevent contamination of corn during storage. We are grateful to the Karnataka government for their support in setting up this storage solution here,” he added.
Commitment to local communities
Together with TechnoServe, the non-governmental organisation (NGO) partner Cargill has been working on a local economic development programme in Davangere, that has directly impacted over 25,000 people across 27 villages.
Project Saathi is helping 5,000 small-holder farming households adopt sustainable agri-practices besides training 2,500-plus women on health, nutrition and financial literacy.
Youth in the local community participated in Cargill Agri Fellows Programme, where they were trained on skills and enterprise-based livelihood opportunities.
This programme also helped local farmers create a farmer producer company called Bhadra, with over 1,000 members to connect farmers to customers. Today they are trading in 11 input and output product categories. The project has successfully completed four years and is being continued.
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