“This will not happen right away,” Agriculture Minister Marek Sawicki told the PAP news agency, adding that at first, the export of apples will unlikely exceed 40 percent of Poland’s needs.

The Minister explained that for a long time, the main recipient of Polish apples was Russia. This changed because of the trade embargo with the EU.

“At the moment – due to the closure of the Russian market – we must look for markets around the world and this, unfortunately, will not be completely successful in the short term.

“In my view, we [currently] sell no more than 40 percent of what we would like to export to foreign markets,” Sawicki said.

“Every market, whether it be India, Indonesia, Singapore, or the United States, is very much needed.

“We should not be discouraged by the fact that at the beginning we sell there a few tens of thousands of tonnes, because that could later develop into millions,” Minister Sawicki said.

“We should develop these outposts, it is worth making the effort.”

At present, the largest recipient of Polish apples is Belarus. The country receives 28 percent of apples from Poland.

In a country where transportation can be notoriously tough to execute, importer and marketer of fresh fruits IG International has decided to take the bull by the horns to ensure a smooth logistics network.

With new plantings in Europe, the company is looking forward to supplementing the fruit supplies that it ships throughout the country and the rest of the world.

The company has made huge investments in controlled atmosphere and cold storage infrastructure as well as reefer trucks.

Record harvest

“We procure fresh produce from over 15 countries and handle nearly 30 different varieties of fruits,” said Tarun Arora, Director, IG International, adding, “Other than imports, we are also the largest exporters of grapes and potatoes to Russia and Europe.”

Noting that most foreign markets were flooded with a record crop of fruits, Arora added: “There is a huge economic opportunity next year. With an increase in fruit production especially from the US, the record crop could bring down prices of imported fruit in India.”

The company’s fleet of over 50 refrigerated trucks has turned out to be a big advantage.

Arora told BusinessLine that the company has wholesale outlets, distribution centres and cold rooms in 22 cities, and around 50 reefer vehicles that handle a large volume of imported fresh fruit every year.

IG International has 12 cold storages with a capacity of over 25,000 tonnes and has set up a large cold storage facility in Chennai at 5,000 tonnes , and in Delhi at 10,000 tonnes and in other cities. It has drawn up plans to further invest in infrastructural facilities to grow its business.

Imported fruits

Other than apples, pears, cherries and plums, the imported fruit market in the country is awash with exotic fruits such as Dragon Fruit and Rambutan with truckloads – a daily sight at the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) markets.

India does not allow import of mangoes, bananas and pineapples, to support indigenous production, said Arora, adding that apples, grapes, kiwi, plums and peaches were, however, for the taking.

Even as imported fruits tickle the taste buds of Indian consumers, Arora said, “Given the high quantity of imported apples coming into the country, it has raised the bar for Indian apples.”

Explaining further, he added that while imported apples tend to retail at around ?120-150 a kg in the APMC market, domestically grown apples have also jacked up their price from the ?60-80 to ?100-120.

Organic farming

IG International is a family owned firm, headed by Chairman GC Arora.

With an annual turnover of around ?250 crore, the company imports close to 1,500 containers of fruits annually from major global companies.

Arora said that importers are being asked to downplay the use of pesticides.

There has been a sudden and sharp rise in the quantities of pomegranate being exported to the Gulf countries in the past fortnight. The quantity of the fruit exported has doubled from 500 to 1,000 tonnes, claim traders, much of which is being shipped out in containers. Exporters have attributed this trend to an abundance of local production of the fruit.

Kaniaya Nishad, an exporter, said, “In India, pomegranate is commercially cultivated in Solapur, Sangli, Nashik, Ahmednagar, Pune, Dhule, Aurangabad, Satara, Osmanabad and Latur districts of Maharashtra; Bijapur, Belgaum and Bagalkot districts of Karnataka, and to a smaller extent in Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.” He added, “Presently, however, large quantities of the produce are coming in from Maharashtra.”

Retail costlier
He continued, “The pomegranate is a 12-month fruit, but suddenly the quantities have shot up. Although the fruit is being sold for Rs 120 a kg in the wholesale market, the retail price is much higher. Only those fruits which are 200-500 gram in weight are being exported.”

Traders also say that there has been a dip in the quantity of pomegranates from Pakistan, which usually compete with Indian produce in the Gulf countries. Since the fruit has a water-laden pulp, it is in great demand in the West Asian countries, where temperatures usually soar at this time of the year.

Ram Morde, a trader, said, “The fruit is used to make juices, so it is popular in summer. The export of mangoes has not started in bulk, and till that starts, this may continue to find many takers. However, once the peak season of mangoes sets in, one would have to see how much chance the fruit stands.”
 

Mumbai’s Peninsula Grand Hotel has conceptualised a twenty-day Strawberry Festival named Berry Berry Strawberries. It is currently underway at the hotel 24x7 coffee shop, Carafe.

Crystal Mendonca, the hotel’s executive chef, has planned an elaborate menu, comprising beverages, soups, main courses (vegetarian and non-vegetarian), salads and desserts. Each of these would have the fruit as an ingredient.

It comprises three beverages - Strawberry Fizz (priced at Rs 200); Strawberry Lassi (Rs 190), and Strawberry and Banana Preparado (a coconut-flavoured banana and strawberry shake with grenadine, priced at Rs 250).

The two soups [Spanish-style Strawberry Gazpacho (a chilled concoction of vine ripened tomatoes with garlic, cucumber and zingy strawberries), and Canadian Style Cheese Soup with Strawberries (a blend of mozzarella, parmesan and cheddar cheese with strawberries)] are priced at Rs 175.

The vegetarian main course comprises two variants - Paneer and Strawberry Chilli (cottage cheese in a yin-yang avatar, priced at Rs 350) and Paneer and Sweet Pepper Tacos (with a spicy strawberry salsa, priced at Rs 325).

The non-vegetarian main course comprises one dish - Prawns in Thai Chilly Basil (batter-fried prawns with strawberries in chilly basil). These are priced either at Rs 300, Rs 350 or Rs 650.

There are two kinds of salad - Strawberry Raita (a creamy yoghurt with strawberries, priced at Rs 150) and Summer Fruit Salad (which comprises strawberries, melon and black grapes, tossed with mint and orange dressing, and is priced at Rs 250).

The dessert range comprises Jharberi Ka Meetha (a combination of ghee-roasted bread slices with rose-petal jam, rabdi and strawberries, priced at Rs 200); Strawberry Rabdi Kulfi (served with falooda sev and priced at Rs 250); Chocolate and Strawberry Trifle (chocolate sponge cake covered with rich chocolate and strawberry cream, priced at Rs 200); Sizzling Strawberry Blondie with Ice-Cream (a white chocolate and strawberry bake with strawberry ice-cream, priced at Rs 250).

Farmers can now grow exotic fruits, flowers and vegetables in their backyard. Chief minister Naveen Patnaik inaugurated a centre of excellence, horticulture, at Deras farm on the outskirts of the city on Sunday. The centre, developed with latest technical knowhow from Israel on 25 acre, will produce quality saplings and seedlings.

"Superior-quality planting materials will be produced in controlled conditions, which will help farmers save their produce from pest attacks. The centre will encourage farmers to cultivate exportable flowers, fruits and vegetables," said agriculture secretary Rajesh Verma.

Different varieties of flowers like gerbera, rose, lilium, chrysanthemum, bird of paradise, marigold, gladiolus, tuberose and high-value vegetables like zucchini, red cabbage and broccoli along with common varieties will be cultivated. Latest technologies like poly houses, high-tech vegetable nurseries, greenhouses, net houses in naturally-ventilated high tunnels and open fields with drip and mulching will be used for high-yielding varieties of flowers and vegetables.

The centre, developed at an estimated cost of Rs 20 crore, will produce as many as five lakh seedlings a month. "The Israeli techniques will not allow pests from entering the farm, cutting down on pesticide use," said Verma. Odisha produces 89.61 lakh matric tonne of vegetables annually. According to present consumption pattern, it is estimated that around 380 matric tonne vegetables are required a day in Bhubaneswar market alone, official sources said.

The fresh spell of moderate to heavy snowfall, followed by widespread rain in the tropical and sub-tropical zones, has brightened the prospects of bumper apple crop in the state this year. This would help improve the chances of better rabi crop production, especially in the rain-fed areas.
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The prevailing weather conditions in the apple-growing belts, besides moderating the day temperature, have helped meet the required temperature for deciduous fruit orchards.

If the temperature, rainfall and average relative humidity remain favourable till the time of flowering and fruit setting, the apple production would break the previous year's record of 8 lakh tonnes.

So far, more 155cm snowfall has been recorded in the apple-growing regions, and the temperature has also remained below the freezing point for most of the period. Till date, 1,600 chilling hours (temperature below 7° Celsius) have already been met in January and February, considered most favourable for good apple crop.

Kandaghat regional horticultural research station's former head AS Kashyap said, "Since snowfall has been received intermittently, it will help in providing adequate moisture level in soil for a longer duration, which is required for better fruit production."

Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry vice-chancellor Vijay Singh Thakur said, "The rain and snowfall, besides helping meet the requirement of 600 to 1,400 hours in deciduous fruit-growing areas, have also hopefully decreased the chances of erratic flowering in orchards."

He added that besides lessening the chances of insect and pest attacks, precipitation and decrease in day temperature would help stop premature blooming in deciduous fruit orchards and also fulfill the requirement of relative humidity factor and natural irrigation system.

Member of the national executive of Bharatiya Janata Party's Kisan Morcha Devinder Thakur said widespread rain had come as a "boon" to the farming community, as it had helped meet the soil moisture requirement for various rabi crops in the state.

Economy driver
Apple occupies about half of the total area under fruit production in Himachal, and contributes nearly 90% to the total fruit production. Apple is being grown over one lakh hectare in Shimla, Mandi, Kinnaur, Lahaul and Sipiti, Chamba and parts of Solan and Sirmour districtse during the past few decades, and apple cultivation has played a major role in transforming the socio-economic conditions of the growers.
 

Tourists coming to Kerala will soon have a mouth- watering incentive to visit the hill station of Munnar. They can walk into any outlet of the Kerala State Horticultural Products Development Corporation (Horticorp) in Munnar and buy a range of processed products made from strawberry cultivated by local farmers.

With farmers in Munnar and other temperate areas in Idukki district taking to the cultivation of strawberry in a big way, the State Horticultural Mission Kerala (SHM-K)) has embarked on a project to provide critical support facilities for procurement, marketing and value- addition of the high- value crop.

On Friday, Agriculture Minister K.P.Mohanan is scheduled to inaugurate the new strawberry processing unit established at Munnar with financial assistance from the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) scheme and Horticorp. Set up at a cost of Rs.1 crore, the plant has a capacity to process 1.5 tonnes of strawberry per day, which can be upgraded to 15 tonnes per day. It is equipped with pre cooling chambers and cold storage facility.

Apart from strawberry preserve, the unit will also manufacture other value added products like strawberry jam and squash. During the off season period for strawberry, it can process other fruits like mango, peach, plum, pear, apple and passion fruit, grown by farmers in Vattavada, Kanthalloor, and Munnar, under a fruit belt programme taken up by SHM-K.

Mission Director K.Prathapan told The Hindu that Horticorp would procure the strawberry directly from farmers. Strawberry varieties like Winter Dawn, Sweet Charlie, Camerosa and Festival are cultivated organically in 625 acres in Munnar and other parts of Idukki. The fruit is harvested from February to mid- May.

“Since strawberry is a highly perishable fruit, processing is to be initiated within a few hours after harvest. The plant will employ a team of women trained at the Central Food Technological Research Institute, Mysore”, Dr.Prathapan said.

The products manufactured at the processing plant will be marketed under Horticorp’s Safe- to- Eat brand named Amruth. The entire range will be available across the state in due course, Dr.Prathapan said.

Horticorp is planning to develop a farm tourism model in Idukki. It is also drawing up a project to introduce more products like strawberry crush and strawberry candy in the market. “In time we hope to replicate the success of Mahabaleshwar in Maharashtra, the main hub of strawberry cultivation in India”, says Dr.Prathapan.

With the export market for pomegranates picking up, farmers across Maharashtra are switching to the fruit, which is more remunerative than grapes. Around 30,000 to 40,000 hectares are now come under pomegranate cultivation as against 10,000-15,000 hectares last year, said Prabhakar Chandane, chairman, Maharashtra Pomegranate Growers Research Association.

Maharashtra contributes 90% of the country's total pomegranate production.

Although there is no clear data available, there are reports of farmers making a shift to pomegranates since this fruit commands a better price in the market as opposed to grapes, he said.

Farmers get Rs 100-125 a kg for pomegranates as opposed to Rs 30-35 a kg for grapes and therefore this is being seen as a more remunerative crop, he explained.

Barring Vidarbha, farmers in Gadchiroli, Konkan and Marathwada are also shifting to pomegranates. In Satana, Deola and Malegaon areas, pomegranate farmers have changed their preference to grapes, while in grape areas such as Niphad, farmers are planting pomegranates. Around 9 lakh tonnes of pomegranate production is expected this year as against 8 lakh last year.

Exports have also picked up and Indian pomegranates are now going to Colombo, West Asia, Russia and Europe, Chandane said. The UK, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Netherlands, Egypt, Turkey, Bahrain and Kuwait are other important markets for pomegranates. This year around 40,000 tonnes of pomegranates are expected to be exported as against 30,000 tonnes last year. Last year, pomegranates fetched farmers a price of Rs 150 per kg in the international markets. On the other hand, grape exports were affected due to reports of residual content and export norms for grapes are very strict, he said.

Maharashtra has 85,000 hectares of pomegranate orchards with the largest being in Solapur with 28,000 hectares, followed by Nashik with 25,000 hectares. The second season of harvesting is to come up in the January-February period. The first season for the crop comes up in the July to September period.

New areas under pomegranate include Nagpur, Latur, Osmanabad and Washim. In addition to Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, TN, Karnataka and AP have also begun growing pomegranates with the area under cultivation going up to 1,25,000 hectares in the last three years.

The production of banana in Tamil Nadu has increased over the past four years to more than eight million tonnes in 2012-13.

Agriculture company Syngenta India in a statement said this was compared to the total industry production of 30.8 million tonnes during the same period.

“In 2009-10, the production of banana in Tamil Nadu was over 4.9 million tonnes”, it said.

Meanwhile, at the ongoing Tamil Nadu Banana Festival in Coimbatore, the company’s stall was inaugurated by the State Agriculture Minister S Damodaran. Trade body Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Tamil Nadu Banana Growers Federation are organising the festival in Coimbatore.

As part of offering its services to banana growers in banana cultivation due to diseases affecting the crop, Syngenta India Commercial Unit Head, Katragada Phanindra said his company has conducted over 45 mega farmer training programmes to educate them on crop protection.

Massive plans are on to export 10,000 tonnes of banana to the Gulf countries from the district, according to Agricultural Production Commissioner Sandeep Saxena.

Inspecting hybrid banana farms in Chinnamanur near here on Thursday, he said that the quality of banana being grown in the district was very good and the fruits were uniform in colour. Moreover, their shelf life was also long and the fruits met all requirements for export.

While taking steps to tap export markets, measures were being taken to expand the area under tissue-cultured banana cultivation to 10,000 hectares from the present 6,000 hectares to meet the growing demand, he added.

The State government had allotted Rs.1.2 lakh crore for agriculture development under its Vision 2023 Plan, according special importance to 10 crops including banana. All required technologies and advanced crop management techniques would be offered to farmers to boost production and scale down production costs.

With effective propagation of drip irrigation system among banana growers, almost all of them in the district had switched over to drip irrigation. Such facility had scaled down use of fertilizers, reduced maintenance costs and cut down weed growth in farms. Moreover, the use of water too reduced substantially. All required inputs reached the root directly and it protected soil fertility.

Form clusters

The Commissioner also advised farmers to form banana clusters to produce banana on a large scale and to enable buyers to procure banana from one spot. Moreover, clusters could handle bulk orders easily and ensure instant supply of large quantities of banana in uniform quality and size. Cluster members would get more assistance under the National Horticulture Mission. Ultimately, profit margin would go up if they sold their produces through clusters, he advised.

Horticulture Commissioner Satyapradha Sahu said that Theni district topped in the State in banana production and stood in the seventh place as far as total area under banana cultivation was concerned.

Collector K.S. Palanisamy said that the government had constructed a banana processing and ripening chamber to process banana at source.

Besides, seven private processing centres too have been functioning to meet the growing demand.

Earlier, banana growers had sent the raw banana to Bangalore for ripening. Some progressive farmers had been exporting hybrid banana to Singapore and Central Asian countries, he added.

The Commissioners also visited farms at Vadapudhupatti, Madhurapuri, Unjampatti villages.

Indian exporters have appealed to the Bangladesh Government to reduce the hiked custom duty imposed on oranges to facilitate cross-border trade between the two countries.

Exporters are facing the brunt, as North Bengal is accountable for millions of rupees every year through the trade of oranges between the months of November and January.

The fruit is found in abundance in the hilly sub-divisions of Darjeeling, Kerseong and Kalimpong during this time of the year.

Recently, there was significant improvement in trade relations between the two countries.

In 2010-11, two-way trade crossed the USD 5 billion mark as a result of a significant increase in Bangladesh's exports to India (68 percent over the previous year) and India's exports to Bangladesh (43 percent over the previous year).

Currently, Bangladesh imports products worth over USD 4 billion from India while India imports products worth less than USD 1 billion, annually.

Irate exporter Baburam Prasad said: "There is lot of demand for the oranges but this year it is costing too much. The export is not taking place due to high custom duty. We hope that the duty gets reduced but it is not happening. If the government takes a step then it will reduce."

"We demand that if Bangladesh reduces the duty then export of oranges can take place," added Baburam.

Every year, the transaction with Bangladesh concerning the orange trade increases to 20 million.

But unfortunately, this year, the export is very poor due to the customs duty of Rs. 40 per kilogram charged on oranges by Bangladesh Customs.

Another exporter, Biddut Das, said: "Earlier oranges in huge quantities were exported to Bangladesh due to its demand. But exports have reduced, as custom duty is high. Oranges are being exported directly from Bhutan, as the custom duty is not too high."

Tariff concessions granted by India to Bangladesh under SAFTA (South Asian Free Trade Area) (as SAARC LDC) include a zero-duty market access for all, but 480 items in the sensitive list. India had further increased the duty-free access to 10 million pieces of readymade garments (RMG) from Bangladesh every year.

India is upgrading seven main borders Land Customs Stations (LCS) as Integrated Check Posts (ICPs) at a total cost of rupees 467 crores (rupees 4.67 billion). ICPs will have facilities for immigration, customs, parking, banks, warehousing, quarantine and fuelling etc.

The measure will help improve trade with Bangladesh across West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram.

Bilateral investment will be facilitated by the recent conclusion of the 'Bilateral Investment Protection and Promotion Agreement' and 'Convention for the Avoidance of Double Taxation' between the two countries.

It is hoped that Bangladesh investments in India will increase with easing of local currency transfer restrictions.

Given the geographical proximity, warm and friendly ties, availability of workforce and investment-supportive atmosphere, the quantum of Indian investment and trade with Bangladesh is further expected to improve for mutual benefit.

The Kerala Pineapple Mission, after nearly two years in the making, will get under way on Thursday.

Farmers have set high expectations after the mission stated its goal of “addressing the A to Z” of pineapple business. Minister for Agriculture K.P. Mohanan will launch the mission on Thursday at Vazhakkulam, the heart of pineapple business in the State.

“If the mission works according to its stated objectives and plans that have been firmed up it will be a great boost to the pineapple business in the State,” said John Kalappurakkal, president of Pineapple Farmers’ Association, which represents around 2,000 farmers in the State.

“The mission’s aim is to take Kerala pineapple, renowned for its aroma and taste, to the world market and establish it firmly there,” said V.V. Pushpangadan, Additional Director of Agriculture and Special Officer, Pineapple Mission.

He said the mission would address all issues related to pineapple cultivation, marketing and ensure farmers get remunerative prices in the face of serious challenges posed by frequent fluctuation in prices.

Increasing production, expanding export and product diversification are key areas the mission will immediately focus on. Though known for its qualities as a fresh fruit, pineapple from Vazhakkulam and neighbouring areas have not succeeded in capturing the export market in a big way. The reasons behind this lack of success is expected to be taken up immediately.

Minister for Finance K.M. Mani had announced plans to set up the Pineapple Mission in the 2012-13 Budget and set aside Rs.1 crore for the initial work. Mr. Pushpangadan said formalities such as registration of the mission and constitution of the governing council had been completed.

Pineapple prices

Meanwhile, the price of pineapple continues to be remunerative for the farmers at Rs.28 a kg for the best quality ripe fruit at Vazhakkulam.

The price of raw fruits, being exported to centres such as Delhi, was Rs.26 a kg while fruits of lower grade were being sold at an average Rs.24 a kg.

“Though farmers have reported about 30 per cent crop loss and damage on account of incessant rain in July and August, the effects have tapered off now,” said Baby John, a farmer in Moovattupuzha. Fruit quality was expected to improve now, he said.

The consistent wet weather during the evenings and sunshine during the day had improved the quality and weight of the fruit, which in themselves was boosting profitability by about 30 per cent, he said. Kerala produces around three lakh tonnes of pineapple a year from approximately 13,000 hectares of cultivated area.

Keen to reduce marketing costs and standardise packaging for apple, the government is considering introducing reusable plastic containers to replace the telescopic cartons currently in use.

According to official sources, an exercise has been started to identify the right type of plastic bins and a high-powered committee, which will have representatives of growers, arhtias (commission agents), ladanis (wholesalers) and other stakeholders, will be set up soon for the purpose. The committee will also go into the issue of designing standard cardboard cartons for which the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) has already engaged the Indian Institute of Packaging, Mumbai.

The cost of corrugated board cartons and separating trays is increasing every year and it is affecting the net returns.

Further, the growers were packing up to 37 kg to 30 kg fruit in the standards 20 kg carton, which often spoils the quality of fruit and makes standardisation of packaging a difficult proposition.

Worse, a large quantity of processable grade of fruit is also sent to market in 60 kg bags, which affects the market prices. Such low quality apple can be better marketed in returnable plastic bins like tomato and other vegetables, which are highly perishable.

The reusable plastic bins will hold about 18 kg of apple and they are collapsible and can be transported back from markets for reuse. Another advantage is that they can be stacked and are easier to handle. The only disadvantage is the initial high cost, but studies conducted in Europe have revealed that they are much more economical due to their long life cycle.

These days interlocking allows plastic bins to be stacked up to a height of more than 36 ft.

The initial high cost could be taken care by making the state-owned HPMC, which supplies corrugated cartons, the nodal agency for reusable plastic bins.

It can procure bins in bulk and rent these out to growers, who can return these after the harvesting season.

Bins used for transporting 10 trucks of apple could be brought back in a single truck load in the collapsed state for reuse.

Other advantages are they are much better from the sanitation point of view as plastic body has a smooth surface that do not harbour disease-carrying organisms and can be cleaned easily. Unlike corrugated cartons they are not affected by rain and they do absorb water or chemicals.

With vanilla prices witnessing a nearly 300 per cent rise over the past nine months, farmers in Kerala and Karnataka have started cultivating the spice again.

Green beans now command anything between Rs 400  and Rs 600 a kg, depending on the quality, up from Rs 130-140 a year ago.

M C Saju, director, Vanilla India Producers Company (Vanilco), told Business Standard that a one-metre vine now costs Rs 20. It had no value at all a year ago. During 2000-2004, the golden period of cultivation, good quality vine had a price tag of Rs 100-150 a metre.

Cultivation was active Kerala and Karnataka during 1999-2005, when   prices skyrocketed in the global market. Then, green beans fetched up to Rs 1,200 a kg, largely because of a bad production season in Madagascar, the world’s largest producer. As production resumed in Madagascar, vanilla prices crashed to as low as Rs 50 a kg, following which farmers stopped cultivating the spice.

Now the prices are up again. Saju claimed Vanilco is getting offers of Rs 20,000 for a kg of vanilla extract, which had no takers even at Rs 5,000 last year. Vanilco has a stock of 400 kg of vanilla extract.

Concerned over the drastic fall of orange production in Jampui hills in North Tripura, the state government has adopted scientific methods for increasing the output of the fruit.

"It has been observed that productivity of orange plants has come down in Jampui hills and the areas under cultivation have also shrunk as fruit farmers have turned to other profit-making crops like coffee, beetle nuts and ginger," state Agriculture Minister Aghore Debbarma said.

In consultation with the experts from the National Research Centre for Citrus (NRCC), the state horticulture department has started distributing artificially grafted orange plants and fertilizers, besides extending facilities for irrigation.

The department has distributed 1.97 lakh saplings to farmers in the recent past, he said.

"Earlier, orange was produced in 12000 hectares of land, which now has come down to 492 hectares," he said.

However, orange cultivation has recently expanded in Ampi and Killa blocks of Gomati district and Sakhan hills of Dhalai district with the help of the ICAR.

Earlier, more than 60 tonnes of oranges were produced on 12000 hectares, officials said.

In a major relief to apple growers from Himachal Pradesh, the Delhi high court has rejected the notification issued by the Delhi government to charge 6% commission from them (growers) in Azadpur Mandi for selling their produce. For the last many years, commission charged in Delhi market had remained a major issue in the state. Now, the HC judgment has triggered a race for credit among political leaders. The state government had taken up the issue with Delhi government with regard to enforcement of bylaw- 49 (3) — that though the commission be charged at the existing rate of 6%, it be taken from buyers and not farmers or sellers.

After the Delhi high court judgment on Tuesday, while BJP leader and former horticulture minister Narender Bragta soon after claimed that his party was instrumental in taking up the issue whether it was in power or not. Not to be left behind, Congress on Wednesday gave the entire credit to chief minister Virbhadra Singh.

Bragta claimed that in 1998, when he was the horticulture minister, he had raised the issue with then Delhi chief minister Sahib Singh Verma-led government, after which charging of commission was stopped. Later, when the Congress government in Delhi reimposed the commission, the HP government had approached the court, he added.

Meanwhile, horticulture minister Vidya Stokes and chief parliamentary secretary Rohit Thakur claimed that the HC relief to farmers and horticulturists of the state was due to the efforts of Virbhadra Singh, who pursued the matter with the chief ministers of Delhi from time to time, regarding the brazen fleecing of the commission agents in Delhi.

They said the high court decision was a welcome step as the Congress government had relentlessly pursued the case through the Himachal Pradesh State Agriculture Marketing Board even during its last regime. The chief minister was well aware of the issue of illegal commission being charged by the agents at Azadpur market, they said. As huge quantities of apples and vegetables from the state are sold through the commission agents in Azadpur, one of the biggest wholesale markets in Asia, the marginal farmers suffer huge losses.

Stokes, too, is a prominent apple grower in Himachal Pradesh. Horticulture is a vital sector in the state's economy as it generates more than Rs 3,200 crore annual income. Apple constitutes about 93% of the state's total fruit produce. Besides apple, other fruits like pear, peach, cherry, apricot, kiwi, strawberry, olive, almond and plum are the major commercial crops of the state.

Ayakudi, a small village near Dindigul and Palani in Tamil Nadu, is famous for its guavas.

Though the fruits are delicious and much sought after by the locals, they never fetched a good price for the growers.

For many years farmers used to sell the fruits in the local market and on the Dindugal-Palani highway for as little as Rs 8 to Rs.9 a kg.

Old story

“All the farmers in the region have been growing this fruit for years. Almost every farmer has two or three guava trees in his garden. But getting a good price always proved to be a challenge as the local traders decided on the price. But all this changed two years ago, when the growers were brought together to form a group called “Guava growers stakeholders for exploring export market,” says Dr. T.N. Balamohan, Special Officer, Tamil Nadu Women’s Horticulture and Research Institute, Navalur, Kuttapattu, Tiruchi.

The project spearheaded by the Tamil Nadu Agriculture University is funded under the National Agriculture Innovation Project scheme by ICAR, New Delhi.

“The scheme became operational from June 2009 to enhance guava productivity and quality through good agricultural practices (GAP). Importance on reducing post-harvest losses, enhancing the shelf life through scientific pre and post harvest management practices, strengthening of guava processing through entrepreneurship development, and facilitating growers to get a hold on the domestic and international market were all considered,” says Dr. Balamohan.

Selection

Accordingly 25 guava farmers were identified by the University and brought under the direct supervision of a team of specialists who constantly guided the growers on scientific cultivation practices through several training programmes and demonstrations, which included soil testing, drip irrigation technology, soil based micro and macro-nutrient application, integrated pest and disease management, introduction of biological pest management, and post harvest technologies.

The beneficiaries were selected after exhaustive field visits and personal interactions.

Accordingly farmers growing the crop in 2-4 acres, those with interest, and a pro active approach were selected.

They were also supplied with necessary inputs like fertilizers, cutters, nylon nets etc.

“By 2012 we started getting good feed back from them. The group in two years time followed the recommendations proposed by the specialists team and was able to harvest 15 tonnes of fruit from an hectare against nine tonnes in the past,” says Dr. Balamohan.

“But this was far from the goal we had set for ourselves. Unless market intelligence is exploited increasing production alone cannot solve problems for a farmer. Marketing linkage plays a vital role to realize a better income for whatever crop is grown,” he reasons.

Next step

As a next step, a meeting of farmers, traders, exporters, processors, retailers, bankers and graders was arranged. A private exporter volunteered to export the fruits to West Asian countries, but placed a condition that only the best ‘A’ grade fruits should be supplied.

Initially farmers became worried as to what they could do with the second grade fruits as it would find no takers.

The specialist team convinced them that local traders would buy it and also roped in a private trader at Coimbatore to take the consignments.

Once assured that a ready market existed, farmers happily agreed to supply the fruits.

Both TNAU scientists and officials from the exporting firm visited the beneficiaries several times to brief and educate them as to how to harvest and pack the ‘A’ grade fruits. That hard, back breaking work for the last two years has paid off.

Export details

Today 250 kg of guavas are being exported every alternate day to nearly 14 countries in the Gulf.

Farmers realise a premium of Rs.30 to 35 per kg against the Rs. 8 to 10 per kg in the past. Presently 560 acres in the region are under guava cultivation.

“The beneficiary farmers have invested their income in buying some more lands and cultivating the same guava crop in them. This is quite an encouraging trend in this belt because today we are flooded with a lot of enquiries from other growers to be also consider them under this project,” smiles Dr. Balamohan with a sense of pride.

Award

Dr. Balamohan was recently conferred the Kadali Puraskar Award by the Government for a similar outstanding work on Banana growers, for consolidating them into a banana growers association.

To visit the place, interested readers can contact Dr.T.N. Balamohan, Special Officer & Co-PI NAIP (Mango and Guava) & e-course, Horticultural College &Research Institute for Women, Navalur Kuttapattu, email:tnb@tnau.ac.in, Tiruchi: 620 009, mobile: 9442076437.

Rising demand for pears, especially 'patthar nakh' (sand pear) grown in Amritsar, in different parts of the country has made the horticulture department think about establishing a pear estate in the district. The pear estate will offer a range of services including research and training for fruit growers.

Horticulture department officials said sand pear of Amritsar has great demand in West Bengal during Durga Puja festival as the devotees offer this fruit to goddess Durga. As the name suggests, 'patthar nakh' is hard unlike the 'baggugosha' (thumb pear) grown in Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.

Sand pear plants were brought to Amritsar by travellers from China who settled at Harsha Chinna village near Amritsar about 2,500 years ago. "Harvested in August, 'patthar nakh' is kept in cold stores before supplying to West Bengal during Durga Puja. We always have advance orders for other religious festivals and sacred days like Rozas, Chaath Puja and Vishwakarma Puja," said Inderjit Singh, a fruit grower.

Inderjit said devotees wrap the 'patthar nakh' in silver foils and offer it to goddess Durga and other deities. A 20kg box of sand pear of Amritsar is sold between Rs 800-1,200 during these festivals, which has encouraged the growers to opt for this fruit.

Amritsar deputy director (horticulture) Baz Singh told TOI that 'patthar nakh' is grown on 855 and 848 hectares area respectively in Amritsar and Tarn Taran districts, producing around 38,000 tonnes of fruit. "Almost the entire 'patthar nakh' is sold outside Punjab and majority of it is sent to West Bengal where it is in immense demand during Durga Puja. The fruit is full of juice and remains fresh for long. Despite being juicy and nutritious, the fruit has few takers in the local market," said Baz.

The deputy director said to establish the pear estate the department has started looking for fix to six acres of land where different species of pears would be grown. Separate buildings would be constructed for farm equipment used for cultivation of pear, laboratories, conference and meeting halls for farmers would be also be built in the estate. Baz said other varieties of pears grown in Amritsar and Tarn Taran include Punjab Nector and Punjab Beauty.

The LoC trade would have died down but for the export of banana from this side of Kashmir to Pakistan-administered-Kashmir, believe LoC traders.
The traders said they export around 800 trucks each carrying 9000 kilogram of fruit to Pakistan every month through LoC at Uri. They said that they have been witnessing increased demand for the banana fruit from Pakistan.
 “Among the permitted items, demand for the banana has remained always high from our counterparts,” said General Secretary Salamabad Chakotti Traders Union Hilal Ahmad Turki.
Terming banana as the most favorable item, Turki said that the fruit has been ‘surviving’ LoC trade.
 “The huge demand for banana from Pakistan-administered-Kashmir has been the hope for the survival of the LoC trade. The trade would have closed down,” he said.
 He said 800 trucks laden with banana are exported to the other part of Kashmir through Uri every month. Each truck is carrying 9000 Kg of banana.
Meanwhile, traders reiterated their demand for the banking, trader’s permit and communication facilities.
 “Traders do not even know who their counterparts are and with whom they are doing business. Traders must be provided with the trade permits as permissions to visit the other side. We can meet traders and discuss business with them,” traders demanded.
Traders also urged government to provide better road facilities and besides widening and macadamisation of the road from Sallambad to Kaman Post.
 “Government should also provide the banking and communication facilities to the traders at the both the trade centres,” Turki said.
He said that ISD facilities should be provided to the traders for the smooth conduct of the trade.
Traders also urged government to hold monthly trade fairs and exhibitions at cross-LoC trade centres for the promotion of the LoC trade.
Tuirki said that Cross Loc Trade has potential to provide employment to nearly 5 lakh jobless youth of the state in case government provides all requisite facilities to the traders.
 “It could also be a biggest CBM’s between India and Pakistan,” he said.
Traders also said that facilities for packing and processing units should be also established for the traders.

Besides visas, intellectual property rights and bilateral trade issues, commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma is going to push for fruit diplomacy of sorts during his meeting with US trade secretary Michael Froman.

He will push for greater market access for fruit such as mangoes, pomegranate, litchi and grapes during the series of meetings finance minister P Chidambaram and he will have with top US officials. Both are currently in Washington.

Market access for Indian agricultural produce has been a major point of contention in bilateral relations. While India has brought down tariffs on agricultural products of interest to the US, the US has not reciprocated, officials told Business Standard.

In the budget of 2011-2012 the government had reduced basic customs duty on raw pistachio and bamboo on the US’ request for more market access for these products. Sharma has decided to now take on the US for greater and easier entry of India agricultural goods in American markets, since they’ree subjected the most to various forms of inspection by US government agencies.

In April 2007, the US had given a green signal to import mangoes from India after treating it with radiation, which has turned out to be a costly affair for the exporters. When the matter was discussed with US authorities, they suggested the mangoes be irradiated by local inspection officers hired by the US embassy here. Such a step was expected to reduce the cost of the programme by $20,000-25,000 on each season. The government here had recommended giving the task to our National Plant Protection Organization. Nothing has progressed on the matter.

The US recently approved the import of pomegranates from India after irradiation to be done within India. But export is yet to happen. Export of grapes had been a demand pending since 2008 but the US authorities refuse to grant the necessary approval and continue to cite the presence of pesticide.

Sharma is to meet Walmart’s Scott Price, Senator Robert Menendez and Froman. On Friday, the two ministers will address the India-US CEOs Forum, where both will also meet US Secretary of Stade John Kerry and US commerce secretary Penny Pritzker, among others. The CEOs forum is expected to take up some issues related to taxation, investment, credit markets and infrastructure.

Movement of professionals
Pitching India as a long-term investment destination, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma on Thursday said the US should respect free movement of skilled professionals to enhance the strategic partnership between the two countries. The minister is accompanied by a delegation of the Confederation of Indian Industry(CII) chief executive offivers in his four-day visit to the US to woo foreign investors.

China said Tuesday it looks forward to receiving Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Beijing later this year and that the visits, including of Premier Li Keqiang to India in May, were like "sowing the seed in spring and reaping the fruits in autumn".

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in a joint press interaction with Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid in Brunei on the sidelines of the ARF meeting, said their talks were very cordial.

"We had a very cordial discussion like between good friends and brothers. If you take a look at how close the two of us are, you can see how close the relationship between our two countries is," Wang said.

"The most important thing that we agreed upon is to constantly push forward China-India relationship. Premier Li Kechiang just visited India, and we look forward to receiving Prime Minister Singh in China later this year. We believe that these two visits are like sowing the seed in spring and reaping the fruits in autumn, and this is our common goal which we believe serves the interests of both peoples."

Wang said both countries are natural strategic partners and should engage in all-round cooperation in a wide range of areas.

"We are two big countries and we have the important responsibility; we believe that we shoulder this common responsibility to regional and global peace and stability."

Khurshid said "both sides have reviewed the work that has to be done, that has already been done since Premier Li's visit. And amongst the various things that we are going to do is several consultations on the region in the areas that we are interested in."

Khurshid said Defence Minister A.K. Antony would be China in two days' time and "we will take our defence cooperation to a higher level. And most important of all for you, we are looking at ways and means of getting the Chinese media and Indian media together".

To a question if there had been any progress in the 16th Round of boundary talks between their special representatives, Yang said the talks were "very successful and good progress was made", which Khurshid reiterated.

Himachal Pradesh, whose apple industry is worth over Rs.2,000 crore, will soon have another cold chain storage with grading and packing facility in the apple-growing areas of Shimla district, an official said here Saturday.

An apple packing grading house, having facility of controlled atmosphere stores, would be set up at Kharapathar. This would benefit the farmers, especially fruit growers of Jubbal and Kotkhai areas, a government spokesperson told IANS.

He said Horticulture Minister Vidya Stokes disclosed this at a meeting of the board of directors of Himachal Pradesh Horticultural Produce Marketing and Processing Corp (HPMC) here Friday.

She said the packing and grading house would be funded by the union commerce ministry.

Stokes said techno-economic feasibility reports have been prepared for setting up of 5,000 metric tonnes juice extraction units at Chopal, Rohru and Rampur in Shimla district, Patlikuhl and outer Siraj in Kullu district and Churah and Bharmour in Chamba district.

The reports would soon be sent to the union government for funding, she added.

In July 2012, a 35,000 apple-box-capacity storage facility, involving an outlay of Rs.503 lakh, was opened at Jarol Tikkar near Kotgarh in Shimla district.

Computerised grading and packing units with a capacity of four lakh boxes of 20 kg each were also set up there.

Horticulture department estimates say this year the state is heading for a bumper apple production after two consecutive years of less than normal yield.

A production of over 3.75 crore apple boxes of 20 kg each is expected, Gurdev Singh, director of horticulture, told IANS.

Himachal Pradesh's apple boom is credited to Satyanand (Samuel Evans Stokes Junior), an American missionary, first introduced high quality apples in the Kothgarh-Thanedar belt in upper Shimla in the early 1920s.

His daughter-in-law, Horticulture Minister Stokes, now manages most of the family's orchards.

Apple is the main fruit crop of the state and is grown in nine of its 12 districts. It accounts for about 40 percent of the total area under all fruit crop cultivation.

Besides apple, other fruits like pear, peach, cherry, apricot, kiwi, strawberry, olive, almond and plum are the major commercial crops of the state.

There is good news for apple lovers this year. They can expect a good supply of the deep, crunchy crimson apples from Himachal Pradesh, the country’s largest apple basket.

The state horticulture department estimates say the state is heading for a bumper apple production — the mainstay of the state’s economy — after two consecutive years of less-than-normal yield.

“We are expecting a production of over 3.75 crore apple boxes (of 20 kg each) this season,” Gurdev Singh, director of horticulture, told IANS.

Last year, he said, over 20.4 million boxes were harvested — 20 percent less than state’s normal yield of 25 million boxes — while it was just 13.6 million crore boxes in 2011.

In both the years, the reduced output was owing to adverse weather — extended winter and the fury of hailstorms when the crop was maturing.

Horticulture experts said plentiful snow in last winter and the recent good spells of rain have sufficiently increased the moisture content in the soil, which has helped the plants obtain sufficient nutrients.

They say early varieties such as Red June, Summer Queen, and Tydeman’s Early Worcester, though inferior in quality, will start arriving in the markets by the end of July.

Superior grades like Royal Delicious, Red Chief, Super Chief, Oregon Spur and Scarlet Spur will start arriving by the middle of August, and their harvesting will continue till November.

“There was some damage to the crop in the recent hailstorms and significant premature fruit dropping too, but overall, the crop is healthy. At present, the fruit is in development stage,” Gopal Mehta, a prominent apple and cherry grower of Kotgarh in upper Shimla, said.

He said most of the fruit crops in the state — including cherries, pears, peaches, apricots, almonds, and plums — are heading for a bumper yield.

Upper Shimla areas, which account for 80 percent of the total apple production, have seen congenial weather, with plentiful snow during winter. Snow is considered white manure for apple orchards.

According to the meteorological office in Shimla, the entire apple belt has seen adequate rain even before the monsoon has set in. “We are expecting the monsoon to arrive a week in advance,” Manmohan Singh, director of the meteorological office here, said. The monsoon normally hits the state by June 27.

Himachal Pradesh’s apple industry, which is currently worth over Rs. 2,000 crore, is credited to Satyanand (Samuel Evans Stokes Junior), an American missionary, who first introduced high-quality apples in the Kothgarh-Thanedar belt in Shimla district in the early 1920s. His daughter-in-law, Vidya Stokes, now the state horticulture minister, manages most of the family’s orchards.

Data has revealed that vegetables top the category offering organic options in India. As awareness about organic food options grows in urban areas, it was found that vegetables at 68% lead the way with fruits following at 52%.

Organic pulses (51%), food grains (50%), milk (45%) and fruit juices (51%) are the most regularly purchased items by Indian consumers, said the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) recently.

Packaged food, tea and beverages are amongst the other products for which Indians prefer the organic option, adds a survey conducted by ASSOCHAM. Currently, most organic farmers in India are still in the transition phase and hence their costs are still high, according to ASSOCHAM. As these farmers continue with organic farming, the production costs are expected to reduce, making India as one of the most important producers of organic food, said a spokesperson.

The average weekly expenditure on organic food is estimated at 50% of the weekly food budget, points out the survey.

With all the bad publicity and alarm generated by poor diet, junk food and rising levels of obesity, the boom in the organic sector comes as a relief said most welcome relief for a food industry, adds DS Rawat of ASSOCHAM.

A majority who participated in the survey said that eating organic food was "healthier''. They also said they would eat more organic food if it was available at more convenient stores and even a bigger majority said if it was less expensive.

The government is also promoting production of organic crops, fruits and vegetables etc. through various schemes like the National Horticulture Mission (NHM), Horticulture Mission for North East and Himalayan States (HMNEH), Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY), National Project on Management of Soil Health and Fertility (NPMSHF), National Project on Organic Farming (NPOF), Network Project on Organic Farming under Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and various schemes of Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA).

Minister of state for Industries & Commerce, Sajjad Ahmad Kichloo today underlined the significance of food processing industry in the state, stating that the sector has the potential to become beacon of industrial development in J&K.
 The Minister said this while inaugurating a seminar on “National Mission on Food Processing and Capacity Building”. More than 100 entrepreneurs participated in the seminar here today. The programme organized by SIDCO in association with National Skills Foundation of India was aimed to make entrepreneurs aware about National Mission on Food Processing and to train and sensitize them on vital issues related to food processing.
 Commissioner/Secretary, Industries & Commerce, Shant Manu, Director, Union Ministry of Agriculture, Ravi Kumar, CEO of National Skill Development Foundation, Satyendra Arya, Director Industries & Commerce, Jammu, Gulzar Qureshi, MD SIDCO, Muhammad Muazzam and MDs of J&K Cements, SICOP, JKI, EDI & KVIB were present on the occasion.
 Addressing the gathering, the Minister emphasized the need to provide fillip to the food processing sector by making certain technical interventions to boost the industry, an official statement said.  “The topography of the state is conducive to support food processing industry provided we make a few effective technical interventions. Capacity building and use of modern technology can go a long way in the growth of food sector in the State,” he added. The Minister also said the sector offered huge potential in terms of employment generation. “The Food Processing Sector contributes 7 per cent to the country’s GDP and provides employment to about 13 million people directly,” he said, asking the youth to lap up the opportunities in this growing sector. Referring to the strong advantages the State has in terms of climate and soil, the Minister urged the prospective entrepreneurs to focus attention on fruit processing sector.
 “J&K is the highest temperate fruit producing state in the country. After tourism, the fruit industry is the most important industry in the State. So we have no dearth of quality raw material available with us,” he said, adding the diverse agro-climatic conditions facilitated growth of different kinds of fruits and vegetables.
 Calling upon the participants to make use of the training to be imparted by experts in food processing during various Technical Sessions, the Minister said under National Mission on Food Processing, funding and loans to set up new food processing units and modernization of existing units will be provided.
 Earlier, in his address, Shant Manu, gave detailed description of the package of incentives being offered to the entrepreneurs in the State.
 He informed the Minister about the collaboration of the State Industries Department with National Skill Foundation of India and various other Central Government agencies to increase the capacity of the entrepreneurs.

On a farm nestled between mountains in a peaceful area of India's Raigad district, hundreds of trees are laden with luscious mangoes.

Move over ValsadiHafoos and chikoos of south Gujarat. Farmers in the region are ready to add something more juicer to your fruit basket!.

Large number of farmers in districts of south Gujarat are switching over from their regular cash crops to grow pomegranates, which not only has a huge export market but also yielding more profit.

Satish Patel (39), a farmer of Itakala village of Valiya taluka of Bharuch district, used to grow papaya on his 40-acre farm. At times, he cultivated cotton or tuver (pigeon peas) but the returns were not good.

"In started pomegranate farming in February last year and reaping a rich harvest of Rs 2.5 lakh per acre," Patel said.

My farm is new and before taking the first fruit we need to be careful as branches and stem needs to be strengthened sufficiently to bear the weight of the fruit. So the first fruit will be after 1.5 years, but after that every year we can take good crops," Patel added.

According to sources in horticulture department, more than 500 farmers spread across 300 hecatres from Vagra, Rajpipla, Jaghadia talukas of Bharuch and Narmada district, Mandvi and Mangrol in Surat district and Utchal and Nizar of Tapi are switching over to this fruit. These areas are relatively arid and conducive for pomegranate cultivation.

"With an investment of Rs 70,000 per acre, farmers get a yield of at least Rs 2.5 lakh," assistant director, horticulture, in charge of Bharuch and Surat, Dinesh Pataliya said.

Locally called Dadam, the fruit, also has great medicinal value making it lucrative for export.

"Large number of pomegranate farmers especially from Maharastra export their product to European countries during October to February," said Pataliya adding, "Unlike mango, it needs dry cool climate without much rains and some of our talukas of South Gujarat provide the best weather for the fruit to grow."

Pratap Pednekar, who owns a 100-acre farm in Nagar district of Maharashtra said, "We have asked the farmers of south Gujarat to change the variety as the one that we grow has a maturity period of 6 to 6.5 months after flowering. We have recommended another variety that has short maturity period of three-four months after flowering so it doesn't cause loss even if it rains."

India exports nearly 7,000 to 10,000 tonnes of pomegranate, 30 per cent of which goes to Europe and remaining to Middle East countries.

Jackfruit is gaining acceptance as a vegetable, especially as a substitute for meat in dishes, according to an expert.

Shree Padre, who has been working on creating awareness about jackfruit cultivation for the past several years, told Business Line that jackfruit is basically used either as a fruit or as a vegetable. It is also a main ingredient in the preparation of many value-added products.

Raw jackfruit, as a vegetable, is gaining popularity in northern India, and a majority of them are being used as a substitute for meat in the preparation of various dishes.

Nearly 40 hotels in Nagpur region are using jackfruit as a substitute for meat in their cuisines. This is a development over the past five years, he said.

Stating that jackfruit satisfies many parameters of meat in the preparation of various food items, he said a majority of the around 50,000 tonnes of jackfruit sent from the south to north go to the kitchen table.

Padre was part of a team to the Vidharba region to study the potential of jackfruit there.

On the jackfruit crop potential in Vidharba region, he said the cultivation is not that big.

Because of the awareness about this crop in the past five years, a minuscule component is coming to the market.

Padre said that raw jackfruit as a substitute for meat has not gained prominence in southern India. With proper extension activities, raw jackfruit can be introduced in south Indian hotels as a substitute for meat, he said.

Under pressure from orange growers associations in Vidarbha, state government finally seems to be making efforts to support them. It is formulating an end to end development policy which would provide support right from procuring disease-free planting material to selling of the fruit in market including subsidy on transportation.

Although there are no official assurances, some recent meetings of these associations with the agriculture and horticulture departments provide indications of the measure. One such meeting took place on Wednesday at National Research Centre for Citrus (NRCC). Farmer associations like Maharashtra State Orange Growers Association (MOGA), Maha Orange and Nagpur Orange Producers Association (NOPA) discussed issues with Maharashtra horticulture director D G Bakwad.

Managing director of MOGA Ramesh Jichkar told TOI that Bakwad had agreed to conduct a study on the lines of Pujab's 'Orange Estate', a central government funded scheme that provided support to farmers at every stage. Bakwad has asked the agriculture department to prepare a proposal on Punjab model within a month so it could further taken up with the department of horticulture and state government.

There was also an earlier interaction of these NGOs with the horticulture minister Vijay Kumar Gavit on August 1. "A team of progressive farmers, agriculture officials and NRCC scientists would tour Punjab to study the model. Our proposal would concentrate on regional requirements," said J C Bhutada, joint director of agriculture (JDA), Nagpur division.

Wardha district superintending agriculture officer Bhausaheb Bharade, who would prepare the proposal, said since the Punjab scheme was for Kinoo orange, Vidarbha scheme would be different. It would still include training, processing and certain crop and region specific issues. Jichkar felt that unless the Vidarbha NGOs and progressive farmers together made a strong front and took up the cause of the growers, the state government on its own was never going to move. Hence, the NGOs have been pursuing the issue for last two years with vigour.

The NOPA secretary Manoj Jawanjal stated that the state was continuing with decades old packages despite doubling of input in cultivation. The government gives Rs30,000 per hectare for rejuvenation of orange, a technology intervention scheme for reviving dying orchards and Rs11,300 per hectare for phytophthora management since 2001. "Government gives 50% subsidy on this amount. But the costs of management of both these have doubled and hence we are demanding revision of amount to Rs70,000 and phytophora to Rs50,000," he said.

Sunil Shinde, former Katol MLA and a progressive farmer, is demanding a revision of insurance package and redefining of triggering factors besides revival of the closed orange processing units. Former state agriculture minister Harshwardhan Deshmukh and now the chairman of MOPA, MOPA president Shridhar Thakre, NRCC director V J Shivankar, Amravati Division JDA Ashok Kanagle and all the district agriculture officers were among those present at the meeting.

NEC Corp has announced plans to set up an organic strawberry cultivation project in Pune, India. The idea, it says, is to create jobs in the area and to spread the NEC brand.

NEC is working in cooperation with GRA, a non profit organisation that has been growing strawberries in Miyagi prefecture in Japan. The non profit has been growing its fruit on land damaged by the tsunami last year.

The Indian project will commence in September. The company will construct 100 M2 greenhouses in two villages. The cultivation will begin next year, with importer seedlings from Japan.

NEC is hoping to sell the fruit to supermarkets and restaurants, at high quality prices. NEC expects annual sales of more than 2 million yen ($25,000) for each association.

The money generated by the project is intended to introduce NEC products to the villages, such as power systems, run with solar power as well as education and medical care that utilises the latest information technology.

"We hope we will spread the NEC brand from the grass-roots level to become successful in this huge market," said Masahiko Murakami, chief of the NEC social contributions office.

Several progressive farmers, speaking at the 19 Foundation Day of the National Research Centre for Banana (NRCB) here on Monday, pointed out to the impediments afflicting the banana sector and demanded remedial measures including coverage under the National Agriculture Insurance Scheme (NAIS).

G.Ajeethan, general secretary, Tamil Nadu Banana Growers’ Federation, said though Tiruchi is a notified area under the NAIS for banana, compensation has not been paid to farmers when they suffered huge losses due to natural calamity. The cooperative banks did not come to their rescue even after collecting insurance premium before disbursing loans, he said. He urged the Horticulture Department to help all banana farmers to get coverage under NAIS.

He pleaded that the “gap between research and farmers should be reduced.” He also urged the NRCB to come out with disease-free and high-yielding varieties suitable for specific locations. He pointed out that varieties raised in the Cauvery flowing regions may not be suitable for other places. He sought a “seed replacement programme” that would help farmers get high-yielding and disease-free seedling. Even if five per cent of the seedlings were to be replaced annually, the banana sector would get a massive impetus, he added.

Lamenting that a number of diseases affecting banana are “river-borne,” he appealed to the institutions like the NRCB to suggest “field-level sanitation”.

Mahadhanapuram V.Rajaram, working president of the Cauvery Delta Farmers’ Welfare Association, underlined the need for focused research on “what grows well naturally in each location.” Pointing out that ‘poovan’ variety raised in some parts of the district can withstand adversities – be it too much water or drought – he pleaded that NRCB should try to popularise the variety. He also cited the rapid strides made by Sri Lanka in adding value to various banana products and said that banana leaf is converted into a “packaging material” with an excellent market potential.

A.T.P.Karuppiah from Theni, who has been awarded “Siranda Vazhai Thozhil Munaivor Virudu,” explained the immense benefits accruing to farmers thanks to technology. He pointed out that the banana growers who were earning just Rs.50,000 per acre in Theni region in 2004 were now able to earn a net profit of even as much as Rs.1lakh to Rs.2lakh per acre using various technologies including drip irrigation. Similarly, the ripening chamber method that he pioneered had now influenced a lot of entrepreneurs and now there are eight such chambers in Theni region alone.

Though India contributes to almost 25 per cent of the global banana production, our export is not much, he lamented. It is because our bananas are yet to reach the air-conditioned chambers, he added. Puliyur Nagarajan, vice president of the Tamil Nadu Bharat Krisak Samaj, pointed out that husk has such huge potash content that it could be used in banana fields to get higher yield.

Compared to several western countries, India though endowed with a lot of natural resources, lags behind in agricultural production.

“The main reason for this is that developed technologies are not percolating to the farmers.

“They remain mere project theses on paper. The main reason for Israel doing so well in agriculture is that almost 90 per cent of their technologies are field-oriented and aimed at helping farmers earn more,” says Dr. Prabhukumar, Zonal Project Director, ICAR, New Delhi.

Able to deliver

“We can claim to be farmer oriented only if we are able to transform the developments in labs to the open fields. Our recent research on high density banana planting on the farmers’ fields in Pathanamthitta district of Kerala proves that farmers readily accept new techniques if they are genuinely going to help them get a better yield and income,” he says.

Today apart from rubber, banana is the most popular crop grown by farmers in the region. According to latest statistics available, the crop is grown in an area of 4,642 hectares.

The steady demand for banana due to its varied uses and wide adaptability to different farming situations makes it the small farmer’s favourite crop. The dwindling farm holdings also make this a practical alternative to other crops.

Among several varieties, the Nendran variety occupies the first choice among Keralites as the fruit is in good demand in the State.

Compared to varieties as Grand Nain (golden yellow coloured) that can produce bunches weighing more than 45 kg, Nendran variety produces bunches with an average weight of 7-10 kg only, pushing down productivity and profits.

Since more than 70 per cent of banana cultivation is done on leased lands by resource-poor farmers, obtaining maximum income from a unit area under cultivation assumes utmost importance.

Different technologies

Several research institutes developed different technologies for pushing up productivity. High density planting developed by Kerala Agricultural University helps the farmer to earn better.

In 2007, the Christian agency for rural development, Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Pathanamthitta district, Kerala offered this trump card to farmers.

By organizing farmer participatory research trials, demonstrations, seminars, training, and field visits in the subsequent years, the

institute effectively perfected the technology for easy adoption by the farmers.

According to Mr. Rajan Nair Vavolil, Naranganam, the technology helped him obtain a yield of more than 27t/ha while his fellow farmers got only 8tonnes per heactre.

“From the small demonstration plots of 0.25 ha in 2007, the technology has spread rapidly and in 2012 occupies more than 150 hectares under cultivation involving more than 1,500 farmers in the Pathanamthitta district alone.

“By planting Nendran at a recommended spacing about 2,500 Nendran suckers can be planted in one hectare of land,” says Rincy K Abraham, Horticulturist working at the institute.

In high density planting, banana rows are made at a distance of 3mts and pits of 50 cm x 50cm x50cm size are taken at a spacing of 2mts in each row.

Increased suckers

Then banana plants are planted in each pit at a spacing of 30-45 cm, perpendicular to the direction of rows. The modified plant spacing reduces pit numbers to 1,666 hectares but increases the total number of plants planted to 3,332 in a hectare of land.

Mr. Mohanan Pillai Varikolil, an award-winning farmer says, “double planting helps the plants to utilize water and fertilizer more efficiently through increased root density. It also helps the plants resist winds more effectively and cost for staking was considerably reduced.”

He was able to avoid stakes by tying two plants together or by using only one stake for both the plants.

Uniform growth

Uniformly growing tissue cultured Nendran plants are the best planting material for doing high-density banana cultivation.

“However, sucker plantations can also be raised successfully if due care is given to planting equal weighing suckers in the same pits.

“Planting banana suckers of different sizes in the same pits lead to uneven growth and reduction in yield,” says Rincy.

Apple is one of the agricultural produce that has gained sharply in the last few weeks. From around Rs 3,000 during mid-July, the fruit was quoted at Rs 4,800 on Monday at Kullu in Himachal Pradesh. In retail outlets in the South, apple costs between Rs 120 a kg (for Chinese) to Rs 180 (for US, Australian).

The surprising aspect of the rise in price is that it has been gaining despite higher arrivals. So far, some 166 tonnes have arrived at Kullu APMC against 78 tonnes during the same period a year ago.

According to reports, though apple production in Himachal Pradesh has been affected by frost and hail storm. Last week’s rain has also affected the crop to some extent. However, production could be a little higher than last year in Himachal Pradesh that accounts for 30 per cent of the total production in the country. The crop has also been affected in Kashmir.

The apple season begins in August and gets over by November.

The main reason for apple to rise is deficient monsoon in the main growing States of Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.

Apple prices are likely to rule firm this season and could gain further with a slew of festivals coming up.

Farm scientists in the University of Agricultural Sciences in Dharwad have come up with new strategies to help pomegranate farmers in the region overcome certain problems, including bacterial blight, a major disease that destroys their crop.

According to renowned plant pathologist I V Benagi, diseases like bacterial blight, wilt complex, fruit rot (anthracnose), leaf and fruit spots and Insect pests like pomegranate butterfly, stem borer, shot hole borer, leaf eating caterpillar, mealy bugs,thrips, aphid, mites, white fly, fruit sucking moths, nematodes and disorders like fruit cracking sun scald and internal breakdown of arils were haunting the pmogranate farmers. A team of scientists in UAS headed by professor Benagi has come out with a series of remedial measures for each of the problem.

Farm scientists V B Nargund, R A Balikai and M R Ravikumar along with Benagi have visited all the places where pomegranate is cultivated in India and Spain and studied the problems.

Karnataka government has provided Rs 1 crore to the department of plant pathology in UAS (Dharwad) to conduct research on Bacterial blight, thanks to the then chief minister B S Yeddyurappa.

The scientists have published booklets in Kannada and English and distributed them to the farmers. The booklet explains the symptoms of each disease and suggests remedial measure. The scientists have also prepared a CD that explains to the farmers the actual process of implementing the remedial measure. "We are responding to the telephone calls from farmers from different places and addressing their problems"Benagi said.

Benagi told The Times of India that bacterial blight of pomegranate affects leaves, twigs, and fruits. Infected fruit and twigs are potential sources of primary inoculums. The secondary spread of bacterium is mainly through rain and spray splashes, irrigation water, pruning tools, humans, and insect vectors. Entry is through wounds and natural openings. The first water-soaked lesions develop within 2-3 days and appear as dark red spots. Disease build up is rapid from July to September. Severity increases during June and July and reaches a maximum in September and October and then declines.

Bacterial cells are capable of surviving in soil for 120 days and also survive in fallen leaves during the off-season. High temperatures and low humidity or both favour disease development. Optimal temperature for growth of bacterium is 30°C; thermal death point is about 52°C.

India is the largest producer of pomegranate next only to Iran. During 2007-2008 pomegranate had covered an area of 122,000 hectares with a production of 858,000 tonnes and the productivity was 7 tonnes per hectare. The area under the crop had increased in Karnataka and Maharastra at a rapid pace during the past few years.

In Karnataka pomegranate is a major crop in Chitradurga, Hosadurga, Bagalkot, Koppal, Bellary and Raichur which are in tropical region. But the area under cultivation had come down drastically following loss of crop due to diseases. The fruit is fetching much foreign exchange for the country as sizeable quantity of fruits is being exported from these states. India exported 35.2 thousand tonnes of fruits valued at Rs 911 million. Till recently there were no serious constraints in its production but the problems of wilt and bacterial blight have caused its area to dwindle suddenly.

Scientist V B Nargund explained that pomegranate aril juice provides 16 per cent of an adult's daily vitamin C requirement per 100 ml serving and is a good source of vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid), potassium and antioxidant polyphenols. He said in preliminary laboratory research and human pilot studies juice of the pomegranate was effective in reducing heart disease risk factors. He informed that pomegranate seed oil, containing polyphenols which inhibit estrogen synthesis was effective against proliferation of breast cancer cells.

The Confederation of Indian Industry has proposed to make a brand out of the bananas grown in Tamil Nadu along the lines of Florida oranges and California apples.

Seeking the State Government support for this initiative, the apex industry body has suggested ways and means to educate all stakeholders in the supply chain, from the farm gate to the retail end on technologies available for proper post-harvest management.

Mr B. Thiagarajan, CII Co-Chairman of Agriculture and Food Processing Sub-Committee, said that the State produces different types of bananas, which collectively account for 25 per cent of the country’s total banana production.

By formally educating farmers and other stakeholders, the State can promote these bananas in the domestic as well as overseas markets in a big way.

There is a huge amount of wastage in the farm sector in India, which according to him is to the tune of Rs 80,000 crore a year and the body suggests creating a model banana cold chain in the State.

Mr Thiagarajan said that as of now, not even a small percentage was sent to other States, “leave alone exporting them”. They are either consumed or wasted in the State itself.

By adopting a suitable technology the State can save up to Rs 6,000 crore annually by setting up cold chains.

It also proposes to hold a banana festival in Chennai in December this year, in association with the State Government, farmers, traders, equipment manufacturers and investors.

Here’s good news for lovers of Himachal apples. The early varieties of the fruit have started reaching the markets of the State capital after the harvesting season of the fruit began after a delay of a fortnight.

With around 1,500 to 2,000 Himachal apple crates reaching the Dhalli wholesale market of Shimla each day from low lying areas of apple belt of the State, growers are expecting good prices.

Early varieties of apple like Summer Queen, Red June and Tydeman’s Early Worcester which normally helps in pollination of delicious varieties of apple, have reached the market.

The delicious varieties like, Super Chief, Scarlet Spur, Oregon Spur of Apple have also started reaching the market since past two days and is fetching good amount to growers. A 25 kg spur varieties apple box is fetching upto `3,000 to the growers and is considered handsome amount.

The Super Chief variety apples are also fetching around `2,000 to `2,800 per 25 kg box. “Yes, with the start of harvest season Apple growers are getting handsome amount and hopefully with higher quality varieties of fruits to come, the growers will have a good time,” said Gian Singh Chandel chairman of Apple Market Committee at Dhalli.

Rohit Ranta an apple grower at Kotgarh area of Apple belt said that the high quality Royal Delicious varieties of the fruit is also likely to fetch good rates, if spur varieties are fetching around `3,000 per 25 kg box.

He added that rates are around 20 to 25 per cent higher this season and by next fortnight, Royal Delicious varieties of Apple are likely to reach the markets. Moreover the earlier varieties like Tydeman, Red June, Summer Queen are also fetching from `800 to `1,200 per 25 kg box depending on quality and size of apples.

State Horticulture director Gurdev Singh said that the harvesting season of apples had just begun in some lower pockets of Shimla, Kullu and Mandi districts and fruits have started reaching markets.

“As a departmental estimate this year, the Apple crop is far better that the last year’s production of 2,75,000 tonnes and we estimate roughly to be at around five lakh tonne,” said Singh.

State has an apple market of around `2,000 crore and last year the production was hampered due to poor weather conditions. In 2010, there was record production of around 4.5 crore boxes of apple.

The apple season in Himachal Pradesh, considered the country’s apple bowl, has opened with the fruit fetching handsome prices, bringing smiles on the faces of growers.

Trade representatives said that the high prices at the onset of season indicated a rewarding apple business ahead.

“After a delay of 10-15 days, apple harvesting has finally begun. The fruit has started reaching the markets and is fetching good prices,” said Gian Singh Chandel, chairman of Dhalli Apple Market Committee near here.

“This year, prices are almost 25 percent higher than last year at this point of time,” he added.

Chandel said early varieties such as Red June, Summer Queen and Tydeman’s Early Worcester, though inferior in quality, had reached markets in Chandigarh, Punjab, Haryana and Delhi.

“A 20 kg box of Tydeman’s Early Worcester is being sold for up to Rs.1,100 in Dhalli and this is a good wholesale price,” he said.

Traders said that on an average, 1,500 to 2,000 crates of apples were reaching Dhalli every day.

Other early varieties such as Red June and Summer Queen are selling berween Rs.600 and Rs.700 and Rs.300 and Rs.450 per box, they say.

The same apples are selling for Rs.80-100 per kg in the retail markets of Chandigarh and Delhi.

Horticulture Department Director Gurdev Singh said the harvesting of apples had just begun in some pockets of Shimla, Kullu and Mandi districts.

“This year, the crop is far better that the last year’s production of 275,000 tonnes. It is too early to comment on the total yield, but it’s certain that it would be normal (around 500,000 tonnes),” he said.

Ramesh Chauhan, a farmer from Kotkhai in upper Shimla, said harvesting had begun in some pockets but it would take time for the superior varieties to attain optimum size and colour.

“The best one (Royal Delicious) from the Kothgarh-Thanedar apple belt will start arriving by the middle of August,” he said.

Horticulture experts said the shelf life of early varieties of apple was lower compared to the superior ones.

The early varieties require 95 to 120 days to mature after the crop fully blooms, whereas the normal ones take 135 to 180 days.

Himachal Pradesh’s economy is dependent on horticulture, apart from hydroelectric power and tourism, with its apple industry worth about Rs.2,000 crore.

Last year, the overall apple production was just 30 percent of the bumper production of 4.46 crore boxes in 2010.

Output had fallen due to adverse weather – an extended winter and a spell of hailstorms just when the crop was maturing.

The Horticulture Department estimates that the state’s apple production this season will be around 2.5 crore boxes.

According to the 2011-12 Economic Survey, the area under apple cultivation has increased from 400 hectares in 1950-51 to 101,485 hectares in 2010-11.

Scientists have sequenced the complete genome of the banana, an important crop in developing countries that provides a fruit widely enjoyed the world over and is a staple food in some of the poorest parts of the globe.

The draft sequence provided “a crucial stepping-stone for genetic improvement of banana,” observed Angélique D’Hont, a French agricultural research scientist, and colleagues from a number of other countries in a paper that is being published this week in the scientific journal Nature.

The sequence represented, they said, “a major advance in the quest to unravel the complex genetics of this vital crop, whose breeding is particularly challenging.”

Pests and diseases were an “imminent danger” for global banana production. Having access to the entire gene repertoire of the plant held the key to identifying those responsible for disease resistance as well as ones for other important traits such as fruit quality, they added.

The completion of the genome sequence was important for India, the world's largest producer of bananas, according to P. Padmesh of the Jawaharlal Nehru Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute near Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala. However, most of the country's production was consumed locally and exports amounted to only 0.5 per cent of the world trade in the fruit.

The potential for export was huge if India could increase its productivity both in terms of quantity and quality, he told The Hindu in an email. As most of the present day cultivated varieties were susceptible to fungal, bacterial and viral diseases, it was necessary to develop disease-resistant varieties.

The international team has sequenced the genome of DH-Pahang (Musa acuminata), a banana popular in south-east Asia and which is able to resist the devastating Panama disease fungus that has been spreading in Asia.

If the genes that provide such resistance could be characterised, they could be transferred to other cultivated varieties, noted Dr. Padmesh.

The genome that has been sequenced ran to 523 million ‘bases,’ the chemical units that make up DNA and encode the genetic information. Transposable elements — the ‘jumping genes’ that can relocate themselves to other places in the genome from time to time — accounted for almost half of those bases.

Bananas that are cultivated, unlike their wild relatives, are seedless and develop without going through a process of pollination, fertilisation and seed production. These domesticated forms are therefore propagated by using a part of the parent plant. As a result, the offspring are genetically similar to the parent. Such similarity can allow disease-causing organisms to rampage through a crop.

The transposable elements in the banana genome therefore provide a major natural source of genetic variation, noted Dr. Padmesh.

It is the world’s favourite fruit and India is its largest producer, contributing to 23 per cent of the world production. It gives an instant and sustainable boost of energy and is a good source of potassium, fibre, carrying 110 calories each and approximately six vitamins and 11 minerals. After rooting for mango and coconut, the Orissa government now has big plans for bananas to supplement the income of its rural households. With an annual production of 4.88 lakh tonnes, Orissa is ranked at No 8 among all banana producing states. Though it has over 26,000 hectares of its area under banana cultivation, the productivity is quite low in Orissa, which now plans to raise the per-hectare harvest from the current 7-8 tonnes to the national average of 33 tonnes in the next decade. With this in mind, the state’s horticulture department is now planning to plant banana rhizomes over 1,500 hectares, up from 500 hectares last year. But it is not the local yellow-skinned varieties that the department is keen on. Rather, it is betting big on Grand Naine tissue culture bananas, which is now a rage in Maharashtra — the biggest producer of the fruit in India. Unlike the local varieties such as Champa, Patkapura and Batisa, the Grand Naine bananas are longer in shape and their skin remains green even after they ripen. “While local varieties take about a year to harvest after they are planted, the tissue culture bananas are ready for harvest at least a month before. With more than 90 per cent fruiting in these plants, the farmers have less risks to encounter,” says Horticulture Director Sanjiv Chadha. Banana is essentially a tropical plant requiring a warm and humid climate. It also requires a lot of irrigation soon after plantation and mostly in summers when temperatures touch 40 degrees Celsius or more in most parts of the state. Besides, banana being very sensitive to diseases such as Panama Wilt and Banana Bunchy Top, farmers have to be on their toes while planting banana rhizomes. “In the Grand Naine variety, the virus indexing have been done taking care of such diseases in the laboratory itself,” says Chadha. As marketing is the biggest problem for farmers, the department has now started a policy of complete buy-back arrangement, in which companies would buy all the ripe bananas from the growers. The farmers who used to get Rs 3-4 per kg would get Rs 6-7 per kg for their produce, with little risk of the bananas rotting away. But growing tissue culture banana is expensive as one has to spend around Rs 1.2 lakh a hectare, compared to Rs 60-70,000 per hectare for local varieties. “In tissue culture variety, fertilisers and drip irrigation play a big role. That add to the costs,” says Sushant Ranjan Das, a climatologist of the department, who is overseeing the state government’s plan of market-farmer link-up. To minimise the costs for farmers, the department is now giving Rs 40,603 per hectare as subsidy. “But the cost is offset by higher production as each rib in tissue culture plants would have 15-20 kg more bananas than the conventional ones,” says Das. Chadha says the biggest challenge is to convince the banana farmers to go for tissue culture banana as it would fetch them better prices. “Once Orissa becomes one of the top-five banana producing states, traders in metros like Delhi and Kolkata would get their bananas from here than Mumbai as it would save them transportation cost.”

In recent times, many indigenous fruits such as the deep purpled jamun and wild berries are being marketed in many melas and horticultural exhibitions. Anitha Pailoor feels it is important to conserve these fruits from the wild, not only for the variety they bring to the fruit basket, but also for their medicinal value. “The fruit costs Rs 180 per kilo. It is a medicinal fruit, not an ordinary one!” Ramesh, a fruit vendor in the City market, is not concerned about the sale of juicy, dark coloured jamuns (syzigium cumunii) piled on his push cart.
The cart, with a couple of other red, yellow and green coloured wild fruits, is a window to the diverse wild fruits of the region.
The profuse fruiting and simultaneous ripening of the jamun is indicative of the onset of the rainy season and commencement of agricultural operations.
Jamun is considered wild but it is also cultivated. The fruit is rich in vitamin C. Its leaf and bark are also used in the preparation of medicine. Jamun seed powder is said to control diabetes.
Kokum (garcinia indica) and amla are other wild berries that are also cultivated. Along with these two prominent berries, there are many other wild fruits which are as good a source of nutrients as traditional fruits. Any person who has spent his childhood in the countryside is bound to have vivid memories of plucking assorted fruits from thorny bushes, tall trees and delicate vines in the woods.
“The berries hanging from high branches taught us tree climbing. Such trees do not exist anymore. The impact can be seen in wild animals crossing the threshold into farm lands,” says Venkatakrishna Sharma who has been trying to protect existing wild species in and around his farm in Muliya, Dakshina Kannada.
He has found a rare bannerale plant (syzigium hemisphericum) near his farm. Bats and monkeys feed on this fruit. Sharma feels that jackfruit and wild mangoes which grow naturally can also be added to the list of wild fruits.
He feels that rapid urbanisation, neglect of wild varieties in favour of hybrids and timber value of old trees are some of the reasons that pushed these varieties behind the screen.
Positive approach
In recent times, we have been witnessing several efforts to bring neglected fruits to the foreground. Be it in the form of a jackfruit mela or a wild mango exhibition, other wild berries also get a special mention.
Concentrated fruit syrup, squash, dried rind, jam, pickle and dry fruits are some of the common value-additions that are displayed.
The possibility of domestication of wild edible plants which have commercial value has also been explored. Way back in 1999, when dried kokum rind was priced at Rs 35 per kilo, Dattatreya Hegde Bairimane in Sirsi decided to plant them on two acres along with another wild berry, uppage (garcinia cambogia).
Another farmer in Sirsi, Mangalamurthi Dixit has grown kokum in his betta land (patches of natural forest linked to arecanut plantations). The labour problem that has hit agriculture has had a negative impact on this crop also.
Kokum fruits are ready in summer while uppage fruits ripen in the monsoon season, from June to August. Both the fruits are valued more for their dried rind. Kokum pulp is used in preparing jam. Dry rinds are also used as substitutes to tamarind in certain native dishes.
Till now, processing and value-addition of wild species are either done at the individual level or in home-based industries. Manorama Joshi, a farmer entrepreneur feels that successful local usage of these fruits could be an answer to the nutritional problems in rural areas, particularly among children and women. The fruits also have economic potential.
“Wild berries were our cookies during school days. Some of the fruits tend to colour our tongue. Unlike chocolates, each fruit tastes differently,” says Manorama who has observed that the word ‘wild’ has an immediate impact on consumers, whether in cities or towns. Manorama has been using wild food in the kitchen and also for medicinal purposes.
Distinct varieties
Each geographical area has unique wild varieties. Though wild fruits are found throughout the year, they are found prominently in summer.
A weed that grows in black cotton soil bears the fruit kaki hannu (solanum nigrum). The fruit, which tastes similar to tomato, is valued for its laxative properties. Gudde hannu (physalis minima) is a common weed that grows on the bunds in irrigated fields in North Karnataka.
Petlekai (grewia nervosa), gamatekai (solena amplexicaulis) hulimajjigehannu (tali minor), challe hannu (cordia dichotoma), khare hannu (canthium parviflorum), koule kayi (carissa carandas) and sampige hannu (flacourtia montana) are some other fruits that are popular. These fruits are naturally hardy and require less intensive care.
Shivakumar, a civil engineer in Madikeri, has been gathering information on wild species from the last two years.
He has managed to gather references on about 108 berries that are grown in Kodagu, while he has been able to explore 45 of them so far.
He feels that some of the species are specific to certain geographical conditions. Along with jamun, some other berries like karmanji and sarali are sold in the local market in Madikeri. Some of these fruits dominate over regularly available fruits in terms of price and demand.
He also poses serious questions about the sustainability of the resource base. Some of the plants and vines are cut for agricultural use. It is clear that once the demand increases, fruits are harvested by lopping branches and even cutting small trees. This practice can only increase pressure on resources.