Swaraj enters horticulture market with light tractors

Developed ground-up for the growing horticulture segment, the all-new 29hp Swaraj Target 630 will be the first model to hit the markets, write Chandan B Mallik and Ketan Thakkar.

- Chandan B Mallik and Ketan Thakkar

Spotting a business opportunity in the fastest-growing horticulture space, Swaraj Tractors has launched the ‘Target’ range of compact light tractors. The company, which is a part of the Mahindra Group, has developed the all-new specialised compact tractor range in the 25-29 horsepower range from the ground-up. The CAGR in this segment is 6 percent and for Swaraj Tractors around 18 percent, says Hemant Sikka, President of Farm Equipment Business at Mahindra & Mahindra. Rural prosperity in India is being redefined with crop diversification now and horticulture is estimated to contribute 30 percent of the agricultural GDP. States like Maharashtra and Karnataka lead the way in horticulture produce. According to the Directorate of Economics and Statistics (DES), planning department, Government of Maharashtra, the average share of Horticulture in Gross State Value Added (GSVA) of crop sector is 28.4 percent. Horticulture area increased from 18.94 lakh hectare in 2019-20 to 21.09 lakh ha in 2020-21, showing an increase of 11.4 percent. As per first estimates, total area under fruit crops during 2021-22 was 8.41 lakh hectare, of which area under mango was highest (1.68 lakh hectare) followed by pomegranate (1.66 lakh hectare), grapes (1.19 lakh hectare), orange/mandarin (1.18 lakh hectare), banana (0.84 lakh hectare) and sweet orange (0.64 lakh hectare) in the state. And this aspect hasn’t gone unnoticed by players like Swaraj Tractors.

Sikka says Swaraj has been the fastest growing brand in the last decade and the plan to introduce this new range of tractors is to sustain the outperformance and grow the market share.