Wayanad: With the CPM giving the green light, the party-controlled Brahmagiri Development Society (BDS) has accepted private capital to revive its flagship venture Malabar Meat brand. Due to mounting debt and widespread protests from investors, employees and other stakeholders, BDS had shut the plant for over a year.
Hailed by the CPM as farmers' and labourers' 'socialist co-operative alternative' to the corporate monopoly in the market, Malabar Meat was quite popular across Kerala. However, deep financial troubles in BDS impacted the brand. Now, after a series of brainstorming sessions, the party has decided to bring in private investment to save the brand and BDS.
BDS sources said a Kottayam-based firm, Buffet Blueway Pvt Ltd, has taken a stake in the venture which will help BDS in the upkeep of the plant, provide it with necessary infrastructure expansion, mobilise working capital and source necessary licences. The central Kerala firm has been involved in the export of buffalo meat and value-added meat products to overseas markets, sources said.
BDS Chief Executive Officer Dr B Sunilkumar told Onmanorama that if things progress at the current pace, 'there will be a ‘Pink (meat) Revolution’ in Kerala. “Elaborate arrangements are on to re-launch the Malabar Meat brand with a private partnership”, he said. “We have inked an MoU (memorandum of understanding) with the Kottayam-based company on an equal profit-sharing basis,” he said, adding the Society would also look to expand the market network. “We are also looking to ramp up the production to 100 per cent of the plant capacity,” he said.
Malabar Meat will add more products to its existing frozen beef, mutton and chicken items, an array of added products. He said talks have been initiated by local administrative bodies including the Sulthan Bathery and Kalpetta municipalities to cater quality certified fresh meat to existing outlets.
Sunilkumar said the brand would also cater to ordinary meat eaters, who are sceptical about consuming frozen meat products. “A ‘fresh meat’ and ‘chilled meat’ supply chain also would be created to tap the unreached market space,” he said.
The move is expected to instil hope for 500-plus initial investors, the majority of whom are party supporters and sympathisers, who put in money for various BDS ventures including the Kerala Chicken and Wayanad Coffee. They had pumped in more than Rs 70 crore to the projects, dreaming of a booming farm sector. However, during the Covid years, the debt of the cooperative mounted to over Rs 100 crore. Malabar Meat and Kerala Chicken projects incurred losses of Rs 46 crore and Rs 26 crore, respectively during the period.
There were allegations that squabbles among leaders had resulted in the shutdown of the dream project. Former chairman P Krishna Prasad, widely regarded to be in the anti-Pinarayi Vijayan camp, was forced out of the chairmanship as the debt mounted.
Among the 70-odd employees of the meat processing unit, 26 would be reinstated and the remaining workers would inducted in a phased manner, sources said. The Wayanad Coffee project, which has also been closed for the past many months, also is in revamp mode following the investment from a cooperative entity based at Kaniyampatta.
