Kimitec, a Spanish bio-innovation giant, has entered into a strategic partnership with FIL Industries, India’s leading investor in the apple sector based in Kashmir, to revolutionize the apple fruit industry in India.
Both companies assert that the addressable market for this partnership is approximately $30 million over the next five years.
The partnership seeks to revolutionize the horticulture sector in India, particularly focusing on apples and exploring opportunities in agro-waste management. They will collaborate to establish a circular economy for bio-stimulants and smart fertilizers produced from these processes.
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“Given the dimension and market share of the FIL industries, we are ambitious that we can reach the numbers we aim for. If we co-invest and design our solutions according to the needs of the farmers we shall be looking at $30 million addressable market in five years,” said Stéphane Chabierski, EVP Global Corporate Strategy and General Manager Asia-Pacific for Kimitec.
India is projected to be the largest producer of bio-waste by 2030. According to Chabierski, the FIL-Kimitec partnership will concentrate on upcycling waste management.
“FIL is the largest apple integrator in the country and has an existing interest in valorizing apple waste. We think we have technologies to help FIL to work on this and many more such projects on a national scale,” said Chabierski.
Kimitec extracts molecules from biowaste and supplies them to the food and cosmetic industries. The company has recently launched the AI platform LINNA to expedite the discovery of new molecules.
“From 18 months it would now take us just one month to find one molecule. We aim to find 3 to five million new compounds in the next decade,” he said.
With apples as the primary focus of this partnership in its initial phase, both partners are optimistic about their potential to introduce groundbreaking changes in the apple industry in J&K and other regions of India, significantly enhancing both the quality and quantity.
“We are looking at decadal partnership with Kimtec. For a farmer, this partnership aims to bring end to end solutions through cutting edge technology with sustainability and responsibility. For us this is the FIL 2.0 version looking at innovative partnerships and solutions,” said Syed Junaid Altaf, Group Executive Director of FIL industries.
He emphasized the company’s dedication to biologicals and bio-stimulants, highlighting their significance to farmers.
“We are not giving a substitution but we are here with a better alternative that aims to give better look to the fruit, better feel and outcome and better returns,” said Junaid.
FIL Industries is also currently developing a 100% biological solution for apple Scab disease, which is expected to be cost-effective and superior to any chemical pesticide.
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“Apple is going to stay and remain the main focus in the horticulture sector at least for the next two decades. We aim to improve the quality of fruit from traditional orchards and educate the farmer about high density plantations to ensure he gets the desired results,” said Junaid.
FIL has already launched some of Kimtec’s products and maintains regular communication with farmers to gather feedback from the field.
The apple industry in J&K is currently valued at around $1 billion. Junaid believes that with technology, awareness, and expertise from international partnerships like Kimitec, it has the potential to triple in size over the next decade.
FIL Industries is also developing an app for development and advisory purposes, targeting interaction with 80,000 to 100,000 farmers annually.
“Focus will be to digitally capture a farmer’s data point, land detail for insurance and advisory as well. It is a pure outreach endeavour,” said Junaid.
FIL is also introducing India’s first parametric apple crop insurance program, appleINSURE, in line with FIL Industries’ commitment to comprehensive support programs aimed at apple farmers in J&K and Himachal Pradesh.