Indian Farmers’ Fertiliser Cooperative (IFFCO), the world’s largest processed fertiliser cooperative, inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the government of Sikkim, on the basis of which Sikkim IFFCO Organics Limited (Sikkim-IFFCO) will be established to explore business opportunities in organic value chain.
IFFCO will hold a majority stake of 51 per cent equity, while the government of the north-eastern state will hold 49 per cent equity in Sikkim-IFFCO. The initial investment for the project will be approximately Rs 200 crore, which will be increased to Rs 500 crore in phases.
IFFCO would soon introduce a range of organic and non-chemical based products for crop nutrition as well as protection, while targeting both the farmers as well as the home garden segment. These products will leverage seaweed, fresh waterweed and bio-actives using a bio-refinery approach to create multiple products with the use of the same biomass.
Industrial-level mass production and packaging of this product range will be undertaken by Sikkim-IFFCO in Sikkim and this facility will cater to the organic input requirements of the entire northeastern region, which as per the stated intention of the government, is going to be a mega organic agricultural zone.
IFFCO will also explore the sourcing of organic produce, including flowers and herbs from the region, and will make them available to various companies pan-India.
To make these products available to the north-eastern farmers, IFFCO will also be opening at least two IFFCO e-Bazar centres in each of the seven sister states.