Sheel Bio Tech's latest tie up is with an Italian company. It has joined hands with Ecoenzimi, which is engaged in producing an enzyme blend for horticulture and floriculture crops. Sheel Bio Tech will be the exclusive representative of the Italian firm in India.
According to Ecoenzimi's chairman Pietro Gino, the enzyme blend will help Indian horticulture and floriculture to increase productivity
and improve shelf life of perishables : The enzyme blend will definitely help to increase the shelf life of each and every cut flower with the same impact . . . In horticulture, the enzymes help not only to improve the quality of the produce, but also better the product.
"It is a fact that unless we achieve higher productivity of crops, government's efforts to ensure food safety will go in vain. In such a situation, this enzyme blend can make the difference," points out S N Chandak, MD of Sheel Bio Tech.
Explaining the possibilities of Indo-Dutch cooperation, he says, "Dutch companies should concentrate more on volumes because India is the only country in the world that can give them the opportunity of supplying huge volume of materials . . .
They have the technology and we have the market; there should be a marriage of the two in a proper way, benefiting both India and Holland."
Founded in 1994, Sheel Bio Tech Ltd is a leading bio-technology, floriculture, horticulture and agro-based company with presence all over India. The company has a world-class tissue culture lab that has been established with technical know-how from reputed Dutch company Cultiss Holland B.V.
Sheel Bio Tech is leading company in designing and manufacturing of greenhouses for all crop requirements and climatic conditions. It imports bulbs of tulips, gladiolus & lilium among other flower bulbs, and plants of alstroemeria, dendrobium, cymbidium, anthurium & strawberry from best breeding companies across the globe.
The company represents a number of Holland & New Zealand breeders in India like Bloomz, Preesman and Rijnplant.
Floriculture Today's M B Naqvi & Sumanta Basu had a talk with S N Chandak, Pietro Gino and Ferdinando Bruno (International Sales Executive of Ecoenzimi) on various aspects of their partnership & product, possibilities for Indo-Dutch cooperation, IPR problem and the like. Here are the excerpts:
Tell us about this newly launched product. How far will it be helpful for the growth of horticulture and floriculture in India?
The most important thing is to realise
that after using this enzyme blend in floriculture, cut flowers will stay fresh for long. In case of transporting cut flowers from one destination to another, the use of this enzyme blend will ensure that the flowers will reach its final destination in a vivid form without losing its quality
and cut flowers will remain the same for 15 days at least. It is because that the enzymes are within the plant; so even when you cut the flowers, the enzymes will keep on working and thus keep the flowers fresh.
The enzyme blend will definitely help to increase the shelf life of each and every cut flower with the same impact. To the enzymes, the entire green world is same. Also, the enzymes have nothing to do with temperature or climate. We have received same results using the enzymes in different climatic conditions of Holland and Brazil.
In horticulture, the enzymes help not only to improve the quality of the produce, but also better the product. Aas you know Italian wine, which is made from grapes, is one of the best in the world. We have observed that the quality of the wines has improved since the farmers started using the enzyme blend for grapes.
We are the only company in the world that has the patent for this enzyme blend.
Do you think this type of product will be a success in India? Are you doing anything to spread awareness about it?
Yes, 100 per cent. Ootherwise, we will not be here.
(S N Chandak) : To understand the entire subject, we arranged their meetings with Additional Secretary (Horticulture) A K Thakur and Horticulture Commissioner Dr. Gorakh Singh. In reply to their queries, we explained that India needs better productivity of crops & cereals in horticulture and improved shelf life in floriculture. It is a fact that unless we achieve higher productivity of crops, government's
efforts to ensure food safety will go in vain. In such a situation,
this enzyme blend can make the difference. The difference between two fields-one with enzymes and another without it-is clearly visible. In fact, Mmr. Thakur congratulated me for bringing such a company to India.
Does this product have any side effect?
There is no chemical ingredient in this enzyme blend. You may know, a lot of chemical sprays are used in the golf courses to keep
them just as we generally see them. Aas a result, there has been a nerve weakening sickness among the golf players in the US, Italy, Japan and other places of the world. But our enzyme will never create such problems because all the elements used in this blend are natural.
There are some other products, like the one launched by Oasis, available in developed markets and also in India that claim to be shelf life improvers. What is the basic difference between your products and these products?
I can not contradict what other people say; I can only show you my products and its results. We are qualified to innovate products that are not harmful to human health. Same product can be used for the promotion of both agriculture and floriculture. We do not want to compete with anyone. Our message is clear-here we are, this is what our product does, it is not damaging your surrounding area, you can touch it, eat it and it does not harm you. I would like to ask my so called competitors 'let me see how you eat your product, if
you can eat it'. We can eat our product without having any health problem.
Why have you chosen Sheel Bio Tech as your Indian partner?
We think this is the right organisation for us here in India. They have the technology, experience, knowledge of the country and they built green houses as well. Those customers, who have bought green houses from Sheel Bio Tech, will be approached first with this new product and this way it will be reached to millions of customers.
We operate in over 40 countries including Brazil, France, Italy and Germany.
Being the supplier of such a product, could you be able to throw some light on global horticulture scenario?
Now-a-days, quality along with longer shelf life is more important
than productivity. You can easily commercialise a product if it has a plus value.
(S N Chandak): There was a global recession for last two-and-half years. As you know, mainly Europe and the US were hit by the recession. From our international partners, whom we represent in India, we got to know that slowly the impact of this financial downturn
is weakening and they are being able to increase their sales once again, and they are hopeful that by the end of 2011, things will be back into normal shape.
I have been into the field of floriculture and horticulture as well for the last 15 years. Improving the quality of planting material has always been my focus. Unless the productivity and profitability of the farmers increases, they can not dream of a metro life. Rreal India is in the villages. Whenever we visit states and meet the farmers, we do emphasise the need for good planting material and thus, we are bringing quality planting material time and again. Aafter receiving success in Mmanipur and Mmeghalaya in pineapple with our planting material, we are bringing it to Kerala. We are also introducing another
new pineapple variety, MDmd-2, from Thailand.
For a better horticulture situation in every state, we send technical
teams, guide the farmers, arrange training programmes and demonstrate the difference between the existing product and the technically upgraded product. It is an ongoing process. Not only us, but also the state & central ministry, NGOs, other agencies and Floriculture Today, as you too are serving the industry, should work hand in hand. Then only we would have the desired results.
There has been a major problem of sourcing quality manpower for floriculture and horticulture industry. What is your comment on unavailability of good manpower in the country?
(S N Chandak) : Whenever any sector experiences tremendous growth, problem of manpower shortage arises automatically. This problem can only be solved by training more and more people and for that we need to set up more training centres. Government should allocate budget for such thing. You will find not too many horticulture
/ floriculture institutions of good standard in India. There are many technical experts in this field working in various government departments, institutions and private companies. Their knowledge needs to be shared among the industry people. This is the need of the hour. Government should come up with initiatives and their support. Rajasthan government along with a horticulture organization
is setting up such an institution. Oother states should follow the suit.
We had a discussion over the possibility for cooperation with the Dutch companies in the field of horticulture / floriculture during the recently held Int'l Flora Expo in New Delhi. As you represent some of the Dutch companies in India, according to you, what kind of technical collaboration could we have with them?
(S N Chandak): During the course of Flora Expo, I met and congratulate
both the Ddutch Aambassador and the Aagriculture Counselor for coming up with the Holland pavilion in the event. By doing that they have made it clear that Holland is serious about becoming
a partner in the progress of Indian horticulture and floriculture
industry. I requested them to ask the Ddutch companies to lower their products' prices, because our people cannot afford such costly materials. companies should concentrate more on volumes because India is the only country in the world that can give them the opportunity of supplying huge volume of materials. They must understand our country-its requirement and limitations. They have the technology and we have the market-- there should be a marriage of the two in a proper way, benefiting both India and Holland. It is worth mentioning that in the expo, we were a part of the Holland pavilion and they highly appreciated our stall.
Indian companies, representing foreign players in India, have to pay the royalty for them. So you have to understand their issues on royalty and IPR. What is your comment?
(S N Chandak): Intellectual Property Right (IPR) is an international
problem. If they ask for royalty we must understand their sentiments.
While we have been requesting them to reduce the royalty, they asked us to be honest.
In my case, we are manufacturing and selling our collaborators' product here in India and paying them their due royalty. collaborators are happy with the system as well as our honesty in paying the royalty.
O
o
nly because of royalty problem, many of the companies are not introducing their products into India. So we must understand that the product is the result of their several years of research. We should respect their knowledge and pay their due honestly.
What is your understanding about cooperation with other Indian companies in this industry representing Dutch companies in India?
(S N Chandak): Aabout 10 years back, there was a feeling of competitor.
Eevery company wanted to know about the other. That time it was not a comfortable relationship at all. But for the last 5 years, at least from my side, I have been mingling with my industry colleagues.
I have been saying them that this vast country has enormous business opportunities; there is no need of unhealthy competition. Ppeople have started understanding this fact. Fortunately, I share a good relation with all of my industry colleagues.
I and my son, Sanjay, who is the president of the company, do work till late night and still we are not being able to meet the huge demand of the industry. Oour hands are full of work, but even then we are ready to work with this Italian company because their product
can change the country's horticulture scene. We are recruiting people with the best of knowledge in this field into our company.
With a dedicated team of 300-odd professionals, we are working
in different states like Rajasthan, Kerala, Manipur, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, and Mizoram. We have a family-feeling within our company that drives us to grow stronger.
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