Hyderabad, India
April 15, 2010
Vibha Seeds, the Hyderabad seed company with a turnover of Rs 650 Crore, has decided to open joint venture initiatives in China, the Philippines, Thailand, Ghana, Tanzania, Uganda, and Ethopia. The company also contemplates operations in Australia, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Egypt and some Gulf countries.

Considering the move inevitable for the growth of the company, Mr. P. Vidyasagar, Chairman and Managing Director, told newspaper reporters. “Our presence in different countries will help us get a foothold for testing material in different agro-climatic zones”.

“We will set up a holding company in Singapore in April. This will be followed by establishment of joint venture in China three to four months later. We will be testing sunflower material at the research and development centre there,” He added. Stating that global presence would go a long way in expanding its offerings, he said the company is getting 400 tonnes of Coriander and 15 tonnes of Carrot from Italy. “We are also exploring opportunities in Italy and Turkey to strengthen our Sunflower portfolio,” he said.

The company which has 800 acres of research farms and 34 multi-location testing centres across the country with a total seed production area of 90,000 acres, recently opened a Rs 200-crore one of the world’s largest multi-crop seed conditioning facilities at Mehaboobnagar district of A.P. The 12-Lakh sq ft plant has a capacity to process 1,000 tonnes a day. Mr Vidyasagar said the company had targeted to sell 6 lakh packets of salinity and drought-resistant cotton seeds in 2010-11 as against 2 lakh packets last year. “With a line-up of 11 BG-1 cotton and 14 BG-2 cotton hybrids for all the three cotton growing zones in the country, the company set a target of 45-48 lakh packets of Bt cotton seeds this year as against 22 lakh packets last year”, he said.