Despite a lean season last year, gauva growers in Maharashtra have managed to get good prices for their produce. Farmers are now opting for this fruit over others and around 2,000 additional hectares is expected to be added when the new planting season begins in June. Maharashtra is one of leading states for guava production with around 37,000 hectares under the fruit’s cultivation.
?Last season, production in the state fell by around 40% due to erratic weather. However, farmers still got good prices of around Rs 25-30 a kg for their produce due to short supplies in the market,? said Vinayak Dandawate, president, Guava Growers Association of India, based out of Rahata taluka in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra.
Rahata is one of the biggest guava growing pockets in the state besides Buldhana, Pune and Nashik districts in the state. Rahata, located near the temple town of Shirdi, has around 3,000 hectares under guava cultivation.
On an average, a single acre yields around 25 tonnes of guavas but in the last season, production fell to around 7-10 tonnes per acre, Dandawate pointed out. Since the shelf life of the fruit is low ( around 2 days) the scope for exports is very less, he said. However, some produce is being exported through traders to markets in Dubai last year, he said, adding that the actual value or volume is exports is not known yet.
Some of the fruit is also exported to Bangladesh, Jordan, Quatar, France, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Switzerland. According to a recent research report by the Yes Bank, India exports fresh or dried guavas to West Asian countries such as United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Yemen, Kuwait, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Indonesia among others but the export value has come down in recent years as most of the fresh fruits are either consumed within the country or processed to various forms such as pulp and juices.
According to Dandawate, planting season starts from June to July and can continue to December based on rainfall conditions in the region. Guava is available in abundance during the peak months of July to August in North India, November to December and from March to April in the other parts of the country. Except May and June, guava can be found in the markets in one or the other states in the country.
Despite all the shortcomings, farmers prefer this fruit over others since the cost of cultivation is lower and the use of pesticide is on the lower side, he explained. The farmers, on an average earn up to Rs1 lakh from one acre of guava production.
Traditionally the fruit is grown in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Orissa, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh in more than 2 lakh hectares with a total production at around 25 lakh tonnes.Maharashtra is the highest guava producing state, covering an area of 37,000 hectares. Bihar and Uttar Pradesh come second and third with an approximate area of 29,000 and 15,000 hectares. In West Bengal, the area under guava cultivation is about 12,000 hectares. The Guava Grower Association of India has been propagating new varieties of the seed in order to improve the shelf life of guavas in association with the National Horticulture Mission.