Mumbai: After ready-to-eat snacks and staples, it may well be organically farmed and processed branded fruits from ITC stable. If the tobacco-to-hotels-to-FMCG major’s plans to scale up its organic farming activities to sell in the domestic market are accomplished, ITC’s fruits and fruit pulps could soon be jostling for shelf space in Indian supermarkets this year.

“We are already exporting organic fruit pulps to institutions and the export turnover is estimated at Rs 4 crore. We could soon launch organic fruits and pulps in the domestic market,” S Sivakumar, head of ITC’s agri business, told TOI. However, the company is yet to get into the specifics like the brand name under which it would market such products and the plan of action on the sales and distribution front.

Finding end-to-end solutions in organic farming is a new business that ITC quietly ventured into three years ago. Being a $27-billion industry globally, and growing at the rate of 20% per annum, organic farming offers an immense opportunity for growth. In India, however, chemically treated fruits and vegetables tower over those which are farmed organically. Not many corporates, having a national presence in India, are involved in this business. This is despite the fact that consumer awareness on the food front is growing. One of the main reasons is the price premium that an organically treated food would attract over that which is chemically treated. The price of an organically farmed produce can be at a premium of 20-100% over the chemically treated ones.

Though premature at the moment, ITC hopes to make the pricing of its organic fruits and spices relevant for the domestic market. It also hopes to extend the domestic brand, as and when it is launched, to exports.

Another reason why organic farming has not taken off in India as much as it has in the US and Europe, is the cost involved in certification of organic foods, which the farmers may not be willing to pay. Training of farmers is another issue, and so is the yield, which may not be as high as when it is chemically treated.