Coca-Cola India and Jain Irrigation on Wednesday launched Project ‘Unnati', a unique partnership with farmers to demonstrate and enable adoption of ultra-high density plantation (UHDP) practice for mango cultivation. The project will encourage sustainable, modern agricultural practices and help double mango yields. UHDP is a farming practice that leads to mango orchards attaining their full potential in 3-4 years and allows nearly 600 trees to be planted per acre instead of the conventional 40 trees.
In the first phase, 200 demo farms of size between one and three acres will use the UHDP technique for mango cultivation while also utilising the benefits of drip irrigation. This will improve farmer's income by improving yield/acre and also decrease the water used. The first phase has an investment outlay of more than $2 million and will be shared equally between the two companies. It will begin with UHDP farming in some farms in Chittoor and Cudappa districts of Andhra Pradesh, an area renowned for the Totapuri Mango.
Going forward, these demo farms will be used to showcase and train farmers on the technique and adoption of UHDP practice under a joint capability building programme under the aegis of Jain irrigation and Coca-Cola University. Jain Irrigation is already a strategic partner of Coca-Cola on the fruit beverage side of its business.
Estimates suggest that demand for packaged mango-based beverages is set to increase consistently over the coming years. However, the area under mango cultivation is not growing at the same rate. UHDP mango plantation is a viable solution and can be undertaken in all tradition mango growing regions.
This process requires mango grafts of commercial varieties planted close to each other. Special techniques lead to the well-rounded growth of mango orchards. This technique has been standardized and commercialized by Jain Irrigation at its R & D farm at Udmalpet, Tamil Nadu where currently 100 acres is under UHDP.
