The Hindu Business Line : Rains damage Nilgiri strawberry; growers seek assistance

Coonoor, March 25 Last fortnight’s excessive unusual rains have dampened the prospects for the Nilgiri strawberry growers who have sought fiscal help to tide over their huge loss.

“We planted, aiming at a daily harvest of over 300 kgs till May as monsoon is over. Last month, we got this volume. When the rains came 15 days ago, the volume was reduced to one-third. Importantly, some cropping plants have been damaged, causing enormous loss,” Dr S. Ramu, Executive Director of Hill Queen Agri Tech (I) P Ltd told Business Line. His company had gone in for plants imported from California.

The strawberry fruit is sensitive to the vagaries of weather. Rains are welcome in the formative stage, but, torrential rains wither away the blossoms. Last fortnight’s rains have damaged almost 75 per cent of the crop all over the Nilgiris. “In some small farmers’ units, the loss is total. The loss is two-fold — ready-to-harvest fruits and future crop of the season because of damage to the plants. The Horticulture Department is wooing farmers into strawberry to tide over the tea crisis, but Governmental support is weak. Farmers want input subsidy and assistance to make good the loss from such unusual rains,” Dr Ramu said.

Costs, prices

Imported plants cost Rs 30-40 each. An acre would absorb planting materials worth Rs 2.6 lakh. Drip irrigation would cost Rs 2 lakh. Add cultivation costs to this. In all, around Rs 6 lakh would have to be spent for planting some 20,000 plants in an acre. Post harvest management is also expensive. Packing costs Rs 30 a kilo.

Already, prices for Nilgiri strawberry have fallen. Now, the volume is also low. “With the Mahabaleshwar crop flooding the market, prices have fallen to Rs 100 a kilo from Rs 250 in November. With the rains washing away the blossoms, the volume of Nilgiri strawberry has dwindled. In effect, our earnings have eroded,” said Dr Ramu.

In-house technology has not been successful. “We experimented with poly-house cultivation, but this hindered pollination. We tried to keep beehives, but the results are not encouraging. If the area is large, it is uneconomical to cover plants with sheets against rains,” said Mr O. Noor Mohammed, Consultant of Horti Faun Flora, who helps farmers by making jam with their rain-battered strawberry.

“Not all damaged fruits are suitable for jam-making for, the quality of the fruits determines the keeping quality of the jams, squash or juice. Farmers’ loss is enormous and they need to be supported to survive with strawberry cultivation,” he said.

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