Indian company to plow in another
Php 675 M to expand seed complex
By Abe P. Belena
ROSALES, Pangasinan– An Indian agri-business firm announced today it is expanding the seed processing complex it has built here and is ready to plow in another US $ 15 million (Php 675 M) in the next five years.
The new investment will be on top of its $10 million (Php 450 M) initial investment Prasad Seeds Philippines, Inc. has shoveled into a corn seed processing facility that formally opened for operations on a five-hectare lot in Barangay Salvacion close to the border of Cuyapo, Nueva Ecija.
The announcement was made by Karumanchi Prasad, chairman and managing director of India-based Prasad Seeds and his strategic consultant , former Agriculture Secretary William Dar, in separate interviews at the tail-end of the complex’s inaugural rites.
Prasad said that the new investment will focus on processing quality palay seeds not just for the local market but also for export to other countries. The initial investment is a facility that dries, sorts out, classify, fumigate and package hybrid corn seeds produced by Syngerta in Binalonan and other eastern Pangasinan towns.
India, a SouthAsia country with 1.2 billion consumers, is one of the newest partners in the Asean plus five economic community that started pulling down all trade and investment barriers this year.
In his speech earlier in the day, the Indian investor projected that Pangasinan will become the seed capital of the Philippines and the country is capable of becoming the quality seed hub of the Asia-Pacific region if all stakeholders work together towards that end.
Prasad Seeds is the third seed company based in Pangasinan, coming behind Syngerta based in the town of Binalonan and East-West Seed based in the town of Tayug.
Syngerta is a multinational company whose Asian operations are headquartered in Singapore while East-West is one of the largest hybrid vegetable seed grower and distributor in the country.
Former DA Secretary Dar said that Pangasinan was chosen as the operations base of Prasad because it has wide and fertile agricultural lands that can sustain economies of scale in quality seed production which can later be expanded to neighboring Tarlac and Nueva Ecija.
Speaking for Governor Amado T. Espino, senior provincial board member Alfonso Bince said that with board member Ranjit Ramos-Shahani they will co-author and shepherd to passage a provincial ordinance granting a five-year exemption from real estate taxes to the pioneering seed processing complex.