Gujarati families in other cities and abroad buy frozen Surti papdi, tuvar lilva and undhiyu vegetables to cook winter dishes all year. Surat district grows these beans and the jowar for ponk, and is a notified export zone for vegetables.
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This unit buys winter vegetables from farms around Surat, cleans and shells them, blanches them (a quick dip in hot water that keeps colour and taste), freezes them fast and packs them in pouches. The main products are Surti papdi (flat beans), tuvar lilva (fresh green pigeon peas), a ready undhiyu vegetable mix, and ponk, the tender roasted jowar that Surat eats every winter.
NABARD's 2023-24 credit plan for Surat notes the district is notified as an Agriculture Export Zone for mango and vegetables, and lists jowar among its main crops. Surti papdi and Surti undhiyu carry the city's name, and they are hard to find fresh far from South Gujarat. Hazira port and the Mumbai–Ahmedabad rail line help move frozen stock.
You need an FSSAI food licence, exporter registration, washing and blanching lines, a blast freezer, a frozen store, a packing machine and a generator. The hard part is the short season: most of these crops come in winter, so plan to freeze other local vegetables the rest of the year. Farmers expect quick payment at harvest, overseas buyers test for pesticide residue, and larger frozen-food firms in Gujarat already sell these items. One long freezer breakdown can ruin a whole store.
Sell to importers who supply Indian grocery stores abroad, and to frozen-food distributors and caterers in big Indian cities.
Why this opportunity, here
What the district has
See everything the district has, and loses, on the Surat district page.
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