The upcoming Aerocity area in the Purandar International Airport is expected to have a food processing cluster. Jitendra Dudi, District Collector, Pune, Wednesday told The Indian Express that they are exploring export-oriented food processing parks within the Aerocity area, which will help small holders earn a steady income from their fields.

Purandar is famous for custard apples and figs, which have been awarded the Geographical Indication (GI) tag. Both custard apples and figs are also being exported. The exports happen mostly via air, given the low shelf life of the fruits. Figs from Purandar have made their way to international markets with Farmer-Producer Companies (FPCs), like Purandar Highlands, taking the lead in exports.

Dudi said talks are in advanced stages about ways of developing the food processing cluster. This, district collectorate officials said, would help the farmers become exporters. “The cluster would have export facilities as well as facilities for packing and grading as well,” said the officer. Work is in advanced stages to prepare the Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the same. The DPR would be sent to the central government also.

Meanwhile, 91 per cent of the farmers have already given their consent for the acquisition of their land for the international airport project. The airport would be coming up over 3,000 acres of land distributed in seven villages in Purandar taluka. Officials in the district collectorate said special programs were run to ensure farmers are convinced to give their consent.

‘’Our aim was to ensure the district collector spoke directly to the farmers. Instead of them becoming project-affected, the farmers were to become beneficiaries of the project,” the official said. For many farmers, the promise of 10 per cent developed land within the Aerocity complex proved to be a deal-catcher. “The developed land is akin to having developed land parcels in the Viman Nagar area of Pune. This was over and above the compensation the farmers were to get for their land,” the official added.

The Purandar airport project had faced protests from some villages, especially those from Pargaon. Farmers had resorted to stone pelting as well as staging protests against the project. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had sanctioned this project in his first term as the chief minister. The project has again gained ground after Fadvnavis returned to power in 2024.