Roger McLean ardently believes Saskatchewan chickpeas could sell themselves in India if they had the chance.
But Australia, Canada’s largest competitor for chickpeas, pays only a fraction of what it costs pulse producers on the Canadian Prairies to reach the popular destination for peas.
So the provincial government is providing up to $500,000 from the provincial Agri-Food Equity Fund to help a Saskatchewan company expand a processing plant to serve a market closer to home.
Canadian Select Grains Ltd., which grows and processes pulse crops near Eston, will use the money to buy equipment from India to de-hull and split brown desi chickpeas to produce chana dhal, a popular dish in South Asian cuisine.
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“For too long the main export from Saskatchewan has been its people and their ideas,” said McLean, the company’s vice-president. “We will now be able to provide a market and add value to chickpeas to create a valuable cropping option for our grower shareholders.”
The company plans to sell the dhal to ethnic markets in North America.
Canadian Select Grains Ltd. has as much as $500,000 available under the fund. So far, it has taken $270,000. In exchange the equity fund takes preferred shares in the company.
The company repays the money in instalments over eight years and regains its shares.
The money from the fund is not tied to specific assets but the company is required to go ahead with the pea splitting expansion.
Australia is the sole major exporter of chana dhal, Saskatchewan agriculture minister Eric Upshall said at a news conference Jan. 30 in Saskatoon.
“Growth of this economy depends on adding value to our primary products and this company has done its homework and identified a niche market that will really benefit the Saskatchewan economy,” said Upshall.
As well, with new higher-yielding pea varieties under research at the University of Saskatchewan, the lucrative market in India could soon open up to Canadian pea producers, said scientist Alfred Slinkard.
The new processing plant is a good first step, he said.
“There is a lot of interest out there but in order to compete for the Indian market there has to be a built-in competitive advantage,” Slinkard said.
Canadian Select Grains processed about 4,000 acres of special crops last year, three-quarters of which were shareholder-grown chickpeas, also called garbanzo beans.
It hopes to expand to include new varieties particularly suited to de-hulling.
At full capacity, the plant could process one and one-half tonnes per hour, McLean said. Up to four jobs could be created with the expansion of the plant, which is expected to be running this spring.
