Calcutta, June 11: Keen to showcase Bengal as an agro-business destination, the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government has decided to open the doors of its farms at nearly 200 research facilities to private investors.

The government facilities include four commodity res- earch centres, four zonal research centres and 50 sub-divisional centres that sprawl over around 4,000 acres across the state. Most of these farms now produce seeds for farmers’ use.

Writers’ Buildings has already agreed “in principle” to lease the land of its dairy farm at Haringhata in Nadia to a milk products unit of the Indonesia-based Salim Group.

“We are looking for public-private partnerships to make the state-owned farms nerve-centres of new market-oriented activities in agriculture and allied sectors,” agriculture secretary Atanu Purakayastha said.

“Sharing with the private companies will also help us generate revenue as most of the farms are under-utilised,’’ he added.

Although Purakayastha is yet to receive any concrete proposal from private companies, officials in the chief minister’s secretariat said the move is primarily aimed at facilitating Reliance’s Rs 2,000-crore retail outlet network.

In their initial presentation to a group of secretaries, the company’s officials had outlined a multi-tier opera- tion. The approach included training for farmers in new market-friendly methods at “demonstration farms” and supply of agricultural inputs and credit facilities through 80 rural business hubs.

Reliance will “buy back” the produce from farmers who would be bound to sell by a contract. Processed, preserved and packaged, the produce will make it to 60 super or hyper-markets across the state.

The government will allow the demonstration farms to be set up in its own facilities, under lease or some other arrangement, said Dipankar Mukherjee, the principal secretary to the chief minister.

Reliance head Mukesh Ambani and his partner in the project, Bengal Ambuja chief Harsh Neotia, are likely to visit Writers’ Buildings next week to discuss this project and a new special economic zone.

The government has also offered 60 acres to London-based JK Fruits and Vegetables at Haringhata. It has proposed a unit for training of farmers and procurement and packaging of fruits and vegetables close to Calcutta. Haringhata is about 50 km from the city.

Echoing the “old-school approach” ? state-run farms are not meant for profit-making ? some agriculture department officials aired apprehension over sharing resources with private companies.

But the department’s dalliance with private companies is on course.

“We helped potato growers in Hooghly produce dry potatoes with more fibre after Frito Lay, the Pepsi group subsidiary, asked for that variety for their chips,” agriculture director Dhabaleswar Konar said.

The CPM is yet to declare its stand on contract farming but the Pepsi subsidiary has already entered into “buy-back contracts” with farmers that include sowing and reaping according to the company’s product-specific guidelines.

The government has also allowed German retailer Metro AG to open its wholesale trading outlet off EM Bypass.

As the CPM and its Left Front partners are still opposed to foreign direct investment in retail in the country, global giants like Wal-Mart, which is also courting Bhattacharjee’s government, have indicated their desire to pick up Indian partners for their foray into the local markets.