India: After 13 years of research and development United Breweries develops new barley seed

United Breweries has developed, after 13 years of research and development, a new variety of barely seed VJM 315 exclusively for Punjab farmers. This will benefit 1,028 contract farmers in Punjab during this year's rabi season. The company has decided to increase the acreage under contract farming of the two-rowed variety VJM 315 malting barley to 20,000 acres during the rabi season.

The malting unit of United Breweries, located in Patiala district, uses 80,000 ton of barely annually, out of which only 4,000 tons was supplied by Punjab farmers this year, a senior company executive told Business Standard. With the improved variety and increased acreage about 30,000 ton of barely would be sourced from Punjab, he said.

The new barley variety would yield 16-20 quintal per acre with an investment of Rs 3,500 by every farmer.

"Punjab will benefit the most from this," Himmat Singh, group managing director, Punjab Agro said. "As we provide backward and forward linkages, the major beneficiaries are farmers, industry and the people of Punjab. Most importantly, by adding value to our crops, Punjab's brand equity is getting enhanced steadily in India as well as internationally."

In the current season, barley harvesting has already started and there is steady arrival in the 15 designated mandis opened by Punjab Agro in Bathinda, Mansa, Sangrur, Ferozepore, Muktsar and Ludhiana districts.

According to Kripa Shankar Saroj, managing director of Punjab Agro (PAFC), "Although the minimum support price (MSP) of barley is Rs. 600 per quintal, the market price is much higher as is evident from the fact that it is being purchased by PAFC at an average price of Rs. 675 per quintal. This is even higher than the MSP of wheat at Rs. 650 per quintal. Added to this is the fact that barley requires far less irrigation and chemicals/fertilisers than wheat, adding to a barley cultivator's profits," he pointed out.

According to Kalyan Ganguly, the managing director of United Breweries, "For the first time, we have been able to get malting barley of international standards. Earlier, the barley we got was of feed quality."

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