USAID and Future Group collaborate to help consumers and horticultural producers

Mumbai, Sep 11 (PTI) Future group, through its various retail formats including Big Bazaar, is collaborating with USAID Commercial Horticulture and Agricultural Marketing Programme (CHAMP) to deliver mutual benefits to Indian consumers and Afghanistan horticultural producers.

This will augment the domestic supply and provide customers with more choice during the non-season, Gopal Bihani, head of farm fresh business at the Future group, said in a statement Tuesday.

More than 50 agriculture exporters from Afghanistan are currently visiting the city to explore business tie-ups as well as to showcase their finest agriculture products including fruits, nuts and spices buyers from Maharashtra and neighbouring states, at a four-day 'Passage to Prosperity: India-Afghanistan International Trade and Investment Show' that opens Wednesday.

"Our agriculture export growth is likely to continue as South Asian economies expand and as Afghanistan's trade environment continues to improve," said Naseer Ahmad Durrani, Afghanistan's minister of agriculture, irrigation, and livestock.

As Afghanistan re-emerges, overcoming her recent challenges, and begins to re-open its gardens of fruits, nuts, and spices, unadulterated by heavy chemical use, India's consumers stand to benefit from the all natural, pure, and tasty produce, he added.