Industry Best Practice CaseIndian agriculture is the second-largest producer of fruits and vegetables in the world. Despite this, there is an extensive wastage of agriculture produce and the level of fruit processing is minuscule. Lack of storage facilities, logistics, and processing make availability of fruits inconsistent. This coupled with low farm productivity, low prices and low income made worse by erratic rainfall further impedes the growth of fruit processing in India. Furthermore, the Indian Prime Minister had urged beverage companies to incorporate fruit juices in their products to help the farming community.
Over the past years, Coca-Cola India has built significant inroads into the farming community with its focus on sustainable agricultural practices that provide forward linkages to the Indian farmers. Coca-Cola’s strategy was to convey its commitment towards India and the five-year roadmap as a part of the company’s Fruit Circular Economy initiative, under which the company aims at creating a value chain from grove to glass for a virtuous cycle of sustainable agriculture. The initiative is a step towards addressing these issues by harnessing the higher productivity potential of fruits - both at farm level as well as processing industry. Leveraging this association, Coca-Cola India’s efforts are focused on improving the overall fruit availability, increasing farming efficiency as well as building food processing capacity in the country, thereby helping farmers double their income.
The teaching objectives of this case are: