India's Tata group plans to
grow tea in Ethiopia
and is working towards setting up an
automobile assembly plant in Mozambique
as it seeks to expand business interests in Africa.
The group, owner of the Tetley tea brand, has approached
Ethiopian authorities with a proposal to venture into tea farming in the
landlocked country, said Esayas Kebede, director of Ethiopia’s
agriculture and rural development ministry.
“We are in communication. We have regions in Ethiopia
that are suitable for tea
cultivation, as you
have regions such as Assam,”
Kebede said in an interview in Hyderabad,
where he attended an India-Africa business conference. Around 70% of 40,000
hectares allocated for contract farming has gone to Indian companies, he said.
Cheap land and labor costs in Africa
are attracting Indian companies with business interests in agriculture,
particularly pulses and edible oils. India
imports around 8 million tonnes (mt) of edible oil every year and 3.5 mt of
pulses.
Mint reported on 19 October that state-owned trading firm
MMTC Ltd, Indian Farmers Fertiliser
Cooperative Ltd (Iffco) and plan to join the list of Indian
companies engaged in commercial farming in Africa.
Tade between India and Africa rose from $25 billion in
2006-07 to $53.3 billion in 2010-11 as both exports to and imports from the
continent swelled, according to a report prepared by the Export-Import Bank of
India for the lobby group Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and
Industry.
Tata Africa Holdings (SA) Pty Ltd has a presence in 10
countries of the continent in sectors as varied as information technology,
communications, automobiles, steel, hospitality, consumer products and
chemicals.
