Sour season: Climate change is shrinking Delhi's strawberry harvest

Farms in Palla village are known for producing multiple varieties of strawberries, including Winter Down, Camarosa, Chandler, and Sweet Session

For Ashok, spotting a ripe strawberry on an eight-acre farm was once effortless. But in recent years, rising temperatures and climate change have made it increasingly difficult.

 

His hands move swiftly, brushing past berry after berry, fingers gently squeezing, eyes scanning each one. “It’s mid-February, and the temperature is already touching 30 degrees. This used to be the perfect time for harvesting strawberries. Now, by the time we decide to pick them, many have already spoiled,” says Ashok, a worker at Arvind Beniwal’s farm in Palla.

 

Palla, a quiet riverside village on Delhi’s northern border, presents a striking contrast to the city’s concrete sprawl. It is the point where the Yamuna enters the capital and is known for having the cleanest water along its nearly 30-km stretch within Delhi.

 

What sets Palla apart from other agrarian villages is its diverse range of crops. Neatly arranged rows of broccoli and kale flourish in the fields. Tents, resembling small circus canopies shelter mushrooms cultivated despite unfavorable weather. The most striking feature, however, is the corridor of strawberry plants, their bright red fruit blending seamlessly with the surrounding greenery — an image fit for a painter’s canvas.

 

A team of workers moves at breakneck speed, plucking, packing, and preparing strawberries for transport. “With this kind of weather, we have to be quick. A decade ago, our harvest window stretched until April or May. Now, it’s much shorter. We ship to Punjab, Kolkata, Lucknow, Maharashtra, and beyond, but with these rising temperatures, some berries spoil before they even reach the stores,” Beniwal explains.

 

His farm produces several strawberry varieties, including Winter Down, Camarosa, Chandler, and Sweet Session. The differences lie in their ripeness, longevity, and intended use. At present, strawberries fetch him around ₹300-400 per kg, though he notes that cultivating just one acre costs approximately ₹5 lakh. “But we don’t rely solely on strawberries,” he says, gesturing at his farm. “Look around—there are all kinds of crops here. In Palla, farming is more about passion than necessity.”

 

Dharmesh (name changed on request), another farmer in the village, echoes this sentiment. He emphasises that what sets Palla’s farmers apart is their ability to embrace technology. At 31, he cultivates bell peppers, cucumbers, and various herbs. Many young farmers here, he notes, use YouTube and Google to learn new techniques. “Some have even left engineering careers to pursue farming full-time. Our biggest challenge is crop insurance—99 per cent of farmers here don’t have it. The premiums are too high, and policies only cover extreme weather, not long-term climate change effects.”

 

Beniwal credits their success to an established market and a first-mover advantage. “I started this business in 1998 and was among the first to grow strawberries in North India. My family has farmed for generations, but I chose to cultivate an alternative crop, much like many young farmers today.”

 

The availability of collection centers—just 5 km from his farm—has been instrumental. “We sell directly to Reliance, Big Basket, Mother Dairy, and others. Most farmers here are educated, so we can negotiate good prices. And if needed, Azadpur Mandi isn’t far either.”

 

Palla was once part of a now-defunct project by French retail giant Carrefour. In 2010, the company launched an initiative to support vegetable production in the village, an effort inaugurated by the then French agriculture minister.

 

Beyond fruits and vegetables, Palla is also known for its flower cultivation. Vast fields of marigolds bloom ahead of the wedding season in late November. “It’s not as profitable as it used to be, since cheaper flowers now come from Kolkata. But with the high demand during peak wedding months, we still manage to sustain ourselves,” a local farmer explains.

 

He started cultivating marigold motivated by the unsustainability of traditional farming due to high input costs, low returns and water scarcity. Marigold farming consumes less water and generates nearly three times the profit than rice and wheat.

 

Back at Beniwal’s farm, Ashok is busy instructing the workers on how to set the boxes of strawberries ahead of transportation. He says the timing and quality of delivery is paramount as strawberries from Mahabaleshwar (in Maharashtra) are proving to be a tough competition in the northern markets. Mahabaleshwar accounts for 85 per cent of strawberry production in the country.

 

“A number of people have taken up the cultivation of strawberries recently,” he says. After it got a GI tag in early 2010s, Mahabaleshwar became a big player. Similarly, certain regions in Odisha have started strawberry cultivation. “But just like us, all these places have been at the receiving end of climate change. While we are seeing an unusually hot winter, the farmers there are facing winter-like conditions that they aren’t used to. The market is small and competition is getting tougher,” he says with a sigh, as he gets back to helping the workers load the boxes into the truck.