India wants to join the strawberry superpowers

Mahabaleshwar, a mountainous region in western India, hosts nearly 85% of the country's strawberry farms. The area's altitude above 1,000m (3,280ft) provides a long, cool growing season from November to March and well-drained soil ideal for strawberry cultivation. However, strawberry farming is labor-intensive and risky, as heavy rains can devastate entire crops.

Sheetal Danavle, who grows strawberries on half of her three-acre farm, notes that strawberry plants must be replaced each season, with farmers purchasing young plants from suppliers at a cost of $2,500 (£1,900) annually. If the season is successful, farmers can earn double their investment, but the climate makes it a significant gamble.

The Mahabaleshwar region is the only place in India where domestic strawberry plant varieties are not available. Farmers import certified mother plants from California, Florida, Italy, and Spain, which take 10 to 15 years for breeders abroad to develop and patent. Tara Farms Fresh, a licensed strawberry propagator, imports these plants, which then undergo a government quarantine before being planted in nurseries and sold to farmers.

Tara Farms Fresh uses a high-tech, precision operation, growing plants in industrial pipes filled with a coconut husk-based coco-peat substrate and a precise drip-irrigation and fogging system to control micro-climates. While India relies on imported mother plants for now, researchers at Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth (MPKV), an agricultural university in Maharashtra, are working on developing a domestic, climate-resilient strawberry cultivar.

Using controlled, low-dose gamma irradiation on plant tissues, they aim to create a fruit with the large size and firm texture of foreign varieties while tolerating Indian heatwaves. Results may be available in 10 to 15 years. Meanwhile, some farmers, like Ketan Yashwant Sodha, have turned to hydroponics to mitigate weather-related losses.