Strawberry growers smile on bumper crop

MAHABALESHWAR: It’s a call from the West as the farmers of Mahabaleshwar and Panchagani region reap the benefits of a bumper strawberry crop of 10,000 tonnes this year.

They are expecting an export order of 2,000 tonnes strawberries from France and Belgium processing units of global FMCG major Unilever for the next season.

Retail biggies such as Reliance and Bharti have also set in their eye on the red fruit with a growth in the food processing industry. On the back of this boom, the farmers are now set to double the area under plantation of strawberries.

“We have been exporting strawberry to the Middle East since past few years. But this year, we got an export order from the France and Belgium-based processing units of Unilever. We have recently executed an order of 100 tonnes of intensive quick frozen (IQF) strawberries to Unilever. Next year, we have been asked to deliver 2,000 tonnes of strawberries by Unilever. There has been an huge demand for the short day variety of strawberry such as Sweet Charlie and Camarosa in the domestic markets from large retailers such as Reliance and Bharti,” said Kishan Bhilare, vice-chairman, All India Strawberry Growers Association.

The Mahabaleshwar region, which accounts for 85-87% of strawberry produced in the country, has 1,500 acres of land under cultivation. This huge growth in the market has led the 850 odd farmers to increase in the acreage of the area under cultivation of strawberry. The farmers are planning to add another 1,500 acres of land this year to meet the demand. They are also experimenting to cultivate strawberry in the backwaters of Koyna river.

“We currently import all strawberry rootstocks from California in June to get the fruit in November. These rootstocks are patented by Florida and California Universities costing us Rs 11 to 19 per plant which also includes the quarantine tax levied by the Plant Quarantine Authority under the farm ministry. But what we get is the certified plant, which is a third generation crop. We want these universities to give us mother plants or the first generation plants so that we can produce up to 15 tonnes of strawberry per acre as opposed to the existing 6 tonnes per acre."

In order to execute these export orders, the farmers have to get the strawberries frozen in IQF, a facility not available in Mahabaleshwar. This year, the farmers used the IQF facility of Chordiya Food Park at Shirval near Pune. Cashing in on the lack of this facility, Mapro Products, a Mahabaleshwar-based food products company plans to set up an IQF and cold storage facility with an investment of Rs 20 crore having a capacity of 10 tonnes per day.

“We are planning to go for the IQF facility for strawberry and vegetables primarily targeting the international markets. We intend to provision the usage of our cold storage facility to freeze 2,000 tonnes of pomegranate, 2,000 tonnes of strawberry and 2,000 tonnes of vegetables in 2007-08,” said Mayur Vora, director, Mapro Food Products.
One acre of land grows 22,000 strawberry plants in this region with each plant producing 400 gm of strawberry.