Dressed in formal grey trousers and carrying a Samsung Galaxy phone, Arvind Beniwal doesn’t look like a regular farmer. But he isn’t. He is one of a small group of farmers who have reaped rich dividends from strawberries in a most unlikely area – the dry northern plains around Delhi and Hisar in Haryana.
About two dozen farmers have devoted around 100 acres to growing this exotic fruit, which was once the preserve of hilly tracts with moderate climates such as Mahabaleshwar, Udhagamandalam (Ooty) and Himachal Pradesh.
RICH DIVIDEND
Beniwal first planted the juicy red fruit in 1998 on a part of his 30-acre farm on the banks of Yamuna, just before the river enters Delhi, with planting material imported from California. The risk taken by moving away from the traditional cereal and vegetable crops seemed to have paid off as Beniwal has been planting strawberry every year on at least 10 acres of his farm.
“The demand is growing for the fresh fruit and about 90 per cent of the produce is consumed directly. The rest is processed into jams and jellies,” he says. Beniwal’s local bulk buyers include Mother Dairy, Reliance Fresh and Bharti Walmart. The buy about 100-150 kg each daily. Besides, he sends the produce to markets in Kolkata through vendors.
“The biggest advantage is that our farm is near the banks of river Yamuna which provides not just adequate moisture to grow the crop but also temperate climate. And the sandy loamy soil is a perfect fit for strawberry cultivation,” he says, adding that transporting and storing the delicate crop requires huge efforts as infrastructure bottlenecks are constrained.
Beniwal, who grows strawberries by intercropping with watermelon and capsicum, says the cost of cultivation for the fruit is about Rs 5 lakh per acre, including the rising labour costs.
Production ranges from 12-15 tonnes per acre and the best produce comes from November and goes on till mid-April. Beniwal, who has got ISO 9001 certification for his farm, has floated a brand in his name – Arvind to market packaged strawberries.
Indian strawberry market is negligible compared to the global production of four million tonnes. US is the biggest producer and consumer of the fruit that is directly consumed and also used in jams and jellies.
Rising production
Indian strawberry production has been increasing since 1992, boosting yields and fruit quality. The Panchgani-Mahabaleshwar region accounts for about 85 per cent of the country's strawberries.