Maharashtra grape growers are a worried lot. Last season was pretty good for the farmers. Nearly four years after being rejected by the European Union on account of pesticide residues, a record 1.92 lakh tonne of grapes were exported by Indian traders to around 94 countries across the world. The traders, however, failed to honour their commitments to farmers who ended up with a loss of around R70 crore for the last season, says Jagannath Khapre, president, All India Grape Exporters Association.

“Most business in this season is conducted on verbal assurances. Traders come to Nashik and other grape growing regions in the state from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Haryana and Gujarat and decide rates verbally with the farmers. They pick up the produce according to their convenience and promise to pay the farmers their dues in 8-10 days and some of them end up disappearing without a trace,” Khapre alleged.

The association says several letters have been written to the directorate of marketing of the state government and action is yet to be taken.

The association has also approached officials of APEDA for succour but the body chiefly deals with issues related to exports, he pointed out.

Farmers have demanded that traders should be registered with the government to prevent increased instances of non-payment.

“Already there have been instances when farmers experienced a setback when they were forced to uproot their vines given on contract to wineries because of non-payment. If the same issue continues in the case of table grapes, farmers will be forced to shift to other crops, he said. It could also impact acreage, he added.

Nashik district is the largest producer of grapes in India with nearly 1.75 lakh acres under vineyards, while the total acreage in Maharashtra is around 2.50 lakh acres. This year as well, the acreage is unlikely to change but with the season approaching in November, something needs to be done quickly to protect the interests of farmers, he said.

According to industry sources, some of the traders who approach farmers do not provide proper addresses or telephone numbers and it becomes difficult to trace them once they leave. “There is no proper system to oversee the sale process, Khapre pointed out. In case of excess production, farmers cannot even demand advances and since this is a perishable commodity, they have to be satisfied with the prices they get,” he explained. A majority of these cases usually occur with both domestic traders and traders who export as well, he said.

The association has been holding technical seminars to educate farmers on this issue. Farmers have been told to make proper agreements with traders with proper documents. The format has also been provided but many end up doing business verbally and end up in losses,” he said.

In the coming season, a bumper crop is expected and around 2 lakh tonne of grapes are expected to be exported, and therefore the association which has some 27,000 farmer members plans to take steps to approach the authorities again to take necessary measures.

Apart from the EU, new markets such as Russia and China have also led to overall growth in grape exports.

For the last two years, grape exports to Russia have been growing.This year, exports to Russia may double in volume compared to the previous year. From February 2015, Indian grapes will also find buyers in Japan, Khapre said.

Besides West Asia, grapes from India are popular in Netherlands, Hong Kong, UAE, Spain, Germany and Sweden. Last year, corporate grape exporters, including Mahindra Shubhlab, had registered a growth of 40-50% in exports.