Mamata inaugurates Keventer's two projects in North Bengal

Keventer Agro Limited, one of the most  names in the field of food processing and preservation, is setting up an ice cream plant in Malda in North Bengal to manufacture ice cream & frozen dessert with an initial capacity of 36.5 lakh litres per year (10,000 litres daily). It is also setting up a state-of-the-art cold storage and ripening centre for bananas with a capacity of 5500 MT per year at Dabgram in Siliguri.

Mayank Jalan, Managing Director, Keventer Agro Limited, said: “As a company, we see enormous opportunity in North Bengal due to its strategic location as the ‘Gateway to the North-East’ and also due to abundant availability of agri-resources like mangoes, oranges and pineapples. With our expertise in food processing and marketing, we shall be able to provide the best quality and freshest products to the people of the region.”

Though more than 6.71 lakh farmers in West Bengal produce about 1.08 million tonnes of bananas every year, a lot of fruit goes waste because of lack of scientific cultivation, ripening and preservation techniques.

Since the past seven years, by regularly selling their produce to Keventer Agro, more than 5000 farmers in Nadia, Hooghly and North 24-Parganas have seen their incomes go up and have benefitted from the committed offtake and 24-hour payment cycle.

Keventer Agro currently working with CII-FACE and USAID in a project to improve farming practices and yields. More than 3000 farmers have been provided with G-9 tissue culture bananas as well as farming technology. USAID has given $2.2 million (Rs 15 crore approx.) as a grant towards this project. The G-9 variety of bananas leads to a 40 per cent improvement in farmers’ income because of better yield and decreased growing time.

The Fruit Ripening Facility at Dabgram, Siliguri, will use Ethylene which is the safest and healthiest method of ripening fruits. Traditionally, farmers have used carbide, which is known to have unhealthy side-effects. This will be Keventer’s second ripening centre in West Bengal.

“Bananas are known to have many health benefits, but improper ripening facilities affect the quality and ultimately people’s health,” said Mr Jalan. “Now you will be able to get the most nutritious and safest bananas in North Bengal. You will just need to check for bananas having our ‘Keventer Fresh’ logo. That is our guarantee for good health and will be available at your nearest market and even at your neighbourhood fruit stall. We are already supplying more than 20 per cent of Kolkata’s requirement from our Barasat centre,” he added.

Metro Dairy Limited, which is setting up the ice cream factory at Malda, is a joint sector company owned by the Keventer Group and the West Bengal Milk Federation. The Company started operations in 1996. It is the second-largest supplier of milk in the State, and is the brand leader in ice creams in the markets in which it operates. The Company has its main plant in Barasat, producing and marketing milk and ice cream. The current projected turnover is Rs 300 crore.

Metro Dairy has set up a plant in the Malda Food Park for manufacturing ice cream and frozen dessert. The Food Park has been built by the Department of Food Processing Industries and Horticulture, West Bengal. The plant has a capacity to manufacture 36.5 lakh litres of ice cream per annum. It is fully automated and is equipped with the latest international technology. The plant is capable of producing a wide variety of ice cream products. The Company is in the process of developing an integrated cold chain network, for distributing its products in various markets of North Bengal.