Pepsico plans seaweed cultivation project in Gujarat

Ahmedabad, Sep 27 (UNI) PepsiCo India today said it was planning to set up a seaweed cultivation project along the Gujarat coast for producing carragenan for making flavoured jellies.

Talking to reporters here, PepsiCo's Executive Director (Exports and External Affairs) Abhiram Seth said the company has identified few places that could be viable for the project to be set in next six to eight months. ''Gulf of Kutch could be an ideal location.'' The seaweed, which is presently grown in Mandapan in Tamil Nadu, produces carragenan that can make the jellies, which the children love to eat, he said.

The extraction is being done by a process that has been patented by the Central Salt and Marine Research Institute (CSMRI) in Bhavnagar.

While working on it, the CSMRI scientists realised that the sap being extracted from the weed has got micronutrients and natural growth hormones.

''This can be used as a organic nutrient for crops, especially rain-fed ones,'' he said.

He said the company too meets its corporate social responsibilities through the project in Tamil Nadu as 80 per cent of the workforce are women.

Mr Seth said he would pursue with the Gujarat government for the seaweed project. ''Hopefully, things should move in another six months,'' he added.

Talking about Pepsico's other agri projects, Mr Seth said the company in a joint venture with Citrus will produce 32 different varieties of citrus fruits ranging from lemon to high grade oranges. It also has plans to build a greenhouse infrastructure at Jalowal near Jallandhar that will plant four million plants per year, he said.

The ED was here in the city mainly as part of a 'fire-fighting' initiative in the wake of the pesticide controversy that has brought down the sales of cola drinks in the past few weeks. Refusing to give any specific figures, he gave an elaborate presentation on the measures taken by the company to ensure safety levels.

He urged the Government to come out with methods to depict safety levels and said his company was willing to adapt any of it.

He said the ad in which the Pepsi boss himself comes on to instil faith in the consumers about the drink, had been a success and said this time around, the impact on sales has been quite less compared to 2003, when the controversy had first erupted, in with the Centre for Science and Environemnt, first made their report public, regarding pesticides in cola drinks.

''Losses have been less and the recovery faster,'' he said.

On the export front, Mr Seth said the company has achieved 60 million dollars worth of exports, compared to 13 m in 1993.

UNI