Udhamsingh Nagar farmers express joy over bumper strawberry crop

Udhamsingh Nagar (Uttarakhand), Mar.26 (ANI): Farmers in Uttarakhand's Udham Singh Nagar district have expressed joy as they witnessed bumper strawberry crop, which was facilitated by the tissue culture technique.

Pramod Gupta, a farmer, said he was happy over the yield of strawberry crop through tissue culture method in Kichha area of the state.

"We prepared saplings of strawberry from tissue culture technique in the year 2001, and tried to cultivate in Kichha farm area, located in the valleys of Uttarakhand state.

We found that when we cultivated it during the month of October, it survived well as we wanted to check whether strawberry would grow well or not. The first trial we did on the chandler strawberry variety, it was successfully cultivated in this area," said Gupta.

Gupta also said that the fruits were being sold at the rate of rupees 125 per kilogram in the markets.

The trends of strawberry cultivation are surging among the farmers of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, as it produces rich yield and requires minimum space to grow.

"When we did cultivation of strawberry without drip irrigation system, then the average production was coming nearly 30-40 quintal per acre or sometimes it was 40-45 quintal per acre but when we do it with drip irrigation method and also consider the timings of its germination, I hope that the yield will come upto 60-70 quintal per acre," said Pramod.

Strawberry is grown in higher altitudes and temperate regions.

Indian strawberry production saw something of a revolution in 1992, when seedlings from California were introduced, boosting yields and fruit quality. Irrigation also improved.

India exports strawberry mainly to Austria, Bangladesh, Germany, Jordan and US. (ANI)