Growing across nations and continents

Backed by burgeoning demand and high profitability, the cultivation of exotic and novel fruits and vegetables is expanding in India at a fast pace. The awareness of the need to eat diversified and relatively nutritious and immunity-boosting foods, which got new impetus during the pandemic, has further pushed up the consumption of non-traditional fruits and vegetables, thereby increasing both the imports and domestic production of these products. The import of these items has almost doubled in just one year — from about 360,000 tonnes in 2020 to a record 721,000 tonnes in 2021. Domestic output is reckoned to be surging by over 10 per cent a year.

The list of the non-native plants now being grown and consumed in India is rather long. The most common among them are fruits like avocado, kiwi and dragon fruit; vegetables like Brussels sprouts, zucchini, asparagus, coloured cabbages and capsicums, baby corn, and cherry tomato; and salads like lettuce, broccoli, celery and parsley. Items like Fuji apples, red grapes, various types of berries and mandarin oranges, pomelo (a kind of grapefruit) and some other rare fruits and vegetables are also imported in sizeable quantities. Most Indians, barring those frequenting the high-end hotels and restaurants or super markets in metro cities, were unfamiliar with many of these products till recently. Now these are readily available in fruit and vegetable shops in even tier-II and tier-III cities.

There are also some unique edible items that have traditionally been collected from the wild and consumed primarily by the locals but are now commercially grown by enterprising farmers. These include the likes of Japani Phal (Persimmon), Ambarella (Indian hog plum), Jangli Jalebi or Kodukkapuli (Camachile), Karonda (Carandas cherry), and Buddha’s hand (Fingered citron).

According to agriculture ministry estimates, exotic fruits were grown in 2021-22 in over 2.8 million hectares. The area under such crops was almost negligible in the early 2000s. The enhanced availability of both indigenously produced and imported seeding material (seeds and saplings), and the emergence of new marketing channels, including e-commerce, for these uncommon but high-priced farm products, has made their cultivation a virtual money-spinner for ingenious farmers.

A notable point, however, is that despite such rapid expansion in domestic cultivation, 80-85 per cent of the demand for these products is still met through import. This should be viewed as an indication of the huge potential for further growth in their local farming. The country’s highly diverse agro-climatic conditions in different regions allow almost all kinds of fruits or vegetables to be grown at different times of the year.

Interestingly, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra have emerged as the major producers of alien fruits and vegetables. While Madhya Pradesh leads with about 1.13 million hectares under these crops, Maharashtra follows close behind with 1.12 million hectares. The annual output of these products is estimated at around 12 million tonnes in Madhya Pradesh and 11 million tonnes in Maharashtra. Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, and Telangana are the other key producers of uncommon fruits and vegetables though some cultivation of these products takes place in almost all states now.

Several novel fruits, such as kiwi, avocado, passion fruit, blueberry, dragon fruit, figs, mangosteen, persimmon, rambutans and strawberry are also being promoted by the government through its Integrated Horticulture Development Mission. The Solan-based University of Horticulture and Forestry in Himachal Pradesh has developed high-yielding technology suitable for growing products like avocado, kiwi, and hazelnut in northern hilly areas. Sizeable plantations of these crops have, consequently, come up in Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, and elsewhere. Similarly, the Ludhiana-based Punjab Agricultural University has evolved strains of crops like figs, strawberry, date palm, broccoli, Chinese cabbage, lettuce, celery, sweet pepper, and baby corn for cultivation in the north-western plains. The Delhi-based Indian Agricultural Research Institute has been promoting the technology for growing non-native plants under controlled environmental conditions in poly-houses.

The indigenous cultivation of dragon fruit, introduced in India in the 1990s, is one of the most noteworthy success stories. This brightly coloured sweet-tasting fruit, deemed good for weight loss, is now widely grown in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, North-eastern states, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Of late, many farmers in Maharashtra, especially in its western districts like Sangli, have begun replacing traditional crops like sugarcane, grapes, soybean, and vegetables with dragon fruit because it requires less water and cash inputs but fetches higher prices in the market.

Similarly, many farmers in Kerala have begun to diversify their farming from traditional crops like paddy or spices to high-value exotic crops, such as butternut squash (introduced from Central America), Gac fruit from Vietnam, and Loquat from China. These have proved much more remunerative than conventional crops. In fact, farmers in other states, too, need to emulate these progressive cultivators and include such high-value exotic fruits and vegetables in their cropping patterns to get good returns.

surinder.sud@gmail.com