Melia Dubia Consortium - Invitation to Participate

In the last few years, there has been a lot of interest exhibited in the cultivation of Melia Dubia as a biomass / timber crop. The interest has been primarily generated in the southern Indian states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu due to favorable climatic conditions. As always, we are glad to respond to scores of inquires regarding cultivation and commercial prospects of Melia Dubia as an investment venture.

While there are small pockets of cultivation spread across the region, there is no organized effort in promoting the product to the best of our knowledge. We feel it would be helpful for like-minded agri-prenuers to form a group to periodically meet, brainstorm ideas about cultivation, marketing and creating awareness about this crop in the timber industry.

While the earlier cultivators of Melia Dubia broke ground about 3-5 years ago, I think this is the right time to collectively organize thoughts and efforts. Immediate and longer term benefits would be :

• To spread awareness among agri-prenuers of the potential of this timber.
• To educate cultivators of cultivation practices.
• To develop marketing approaches and connect producers with consumers.
• To bypass brokers and engage end-customers as a consortium with supply-side leverage.
• To investigate additional revenue streams for Melia Dubia consumption.

As part of initial pulse-check, I would be interested to see how many folks are interested and have the ability to actively participate. Please take the poll on the right panel to express your current interest. I anticipate initial discussions to be conference calls and later move into physical meetings. Don't forget to drop us a note (info@saverafarms.com) with your contact details so we may reach out to you.

For your reading pleasure, feel free to peruse through these online resources on Melia Dubia :

• http://www.clenergen.com/biomass/melia-dubia
• http://www.hunsply.com/meliadubia.html
• http://www.benwood.eu/cms/dmdocuments/JagdishChander_Meliadubiapotentialspecies.pdf

April 28 Update : The polling tool mentioned above was standard issue from Google (Blogger) but did not work as expected and was removed. However, we have heard from a few participants already, please continue to reach out to us via email and we'll be sure to include you when the initial consortium discussions are organized.