Thousands of families — around five lakh (500.000) people — in Ranchi, Lohardaga, Ramgarh, Jamshedpur, Koderma, Deoghar, Dumka, Bokaro, Gumla and Hazaribagh for the past three years have actively joined the supply chain of Pepsico Ltd, the MNC (Multinational) that makes cold drinks, fruit juices, Lays chips and Kurkure, through contract farming.
Growing mainly potatoes, which have less sugar content and are of low calorie, for the company, these farmers are also no longer dependant on government loans or bank finances.
Pepsico pays anything between Rsp 10 and Rs 10.50 per kg for their yield. Moreover, they are allowed to sell their ware in the open market if they get better rates.
Pepsico India Holding Ltd — Fritolay division — started off with a pilot project in 100 acres in Jharkhand in 2005-06 to grow potatoes for their chips, which spread to 500 acres next year and today, it covers 800 acres.
Pepsico introduced seeds of Atlantic variety, Chipsona and Fritolay-1553, but Atlantic proved to yield the best potato in this region.
