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An export oriented unit with a difference
 The
city based Weikfield Group has tied up
with the leading US mushroom growers, Franklin
Mushroom Farms and has set up an 100% Export
Oriented Unit. The Company set up the plant
two years ago at Bakori village, about 22 km from
Pune.
The plant is set up on 32 acres of land, with
a built up area of about four lakh square feet.
It is capable of producing 300 tons of mushrooms
per year. The total capital investment has been
about Rs. 30 crore. The facilities in the plant
include state-of-the-art technology, such as seven
computer-controlled compost sterilized tunnels
and 48 computerized climate controlled and air-conditioned
mushroom growing rooms.
 The
factory can currently produce about 10 tons of
mushrooms a day and about 300 tons a month, of
which about 10-15% is sold in the domestic market.
According to the Managing Director, Ashwin
Malhotra, the consumption of Mushroom in
the country is around 1 % of the mushroom consumption
per capita in developed countries like Australia,
USA, Germany etc.
He said, "It is our company's goal to
educate the Indian population in the nutritional
and taste qualities of the mushroom, so as to
make this delicacy regularly used in the Indian
cuisine. Earlier mushroom was sold at Rs. 130
a kilogram as an exclusive and exotic vegetable.
The company is now selling it for Rs. 60 a kilogram.We
are working towards introducing products like
mushroom salads, marinated mushrooms, mushrooms
in different kinds of sauces. These products are
currently in demand in all the developed countries
of the world. The company plans to introduce similar
products in the domestic market in the near future."
Malhotra added, "Our unit is the only
one in the country that has an international standard
spawn laboratory, which produces internationally
quality spawn. The company has standardized its
production and the factory also has an
in-house process food department that manufactures
sauces, pickles, chutneys, marinated mushrooms
and other processed products."
By Rahul Surkund
Photographs - Hari Krishna
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