Exsa receives visit from Indian Grower delegation
During January 2012 Exsa hosted a delegation of three prominent table grape producers from Pune in India. The purpose of their visit was to see the new grape varieties currently being evaluated by Exsa in the Hex River as well as to study the Exsa producer /exporter business model. Exsa directors also introduced them the Exsa’s colleagues in the market, namely Exsa imports in the UK and Exsa Europe in the Netherlands.
“The delegation members have followed a similar business model to Exsa for the past two years and they were interested to learn more about Exsa business model with strategic partners in the UK and EU,” explained Poen Jordaan, Exsa Director. “They were impressed with the way in which Exsa had expanded their operations during the past three years through innovation in packing methods, packing materials and new varieties,” he added.
The three delegates were Shahir Mahendra Shivmurti, the president of the Maharashtra State Grape Growers’ Association at Pune in India, Gaikwad Ashok Vishnu, the vice president of Maharashtra State Grape Growers’ Association and Kanchan Sopan Sakharam, the chairman of The Grape Growers’ Federation of India.
They represent approximately 25 000 producers from the Maharatshtra State in India. This state is on the west coast of India and the capital of the state is Mumbai, also India’s capital. Maharatshtra State contains the main viticulture production region in the country and it is centred at Pune, approximately 120km east of Mumbai.
According to the growers the table grape industry does not receive any government support and growers fund all industry activities. In co-operation with government the industry bodies have recently established legislation and a code of conduct to protect the rights of patent and licence holders.
Research on grapes is carried out by the Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) Institutes and State Agricultural Universities at different centres under the All India Coordinated Research Project on Grapes. The National Research Centre for Grapes (ICAR) located at Pune, Maharashtra is the focal point for conducting and coordinating the research activities on grapes throughout the country.
Caption:
The Indian Table Grape Delegation with Exsa Directors
From left to right: Poen Jordaan (Exsa), Gaikwad Ashok Vishnu, Leon Viljoen (Exsa), Kanchan Sopan Sakharam, Shahir Mahendra Shivmurti, Kosie Loubser (Exsa).