Annually, tonnes of unique culmination together with blueberries and raspberries are imported for city Indian shoppers owing to their wide selection of well being advantages. Information presentations that raspberry, blackberry, blueberry, and cranberry imports into India skyrocketed to 870 tonnes in 2022 – indicating a surge of 148 % in comparison to 2021.
In line with the United States Highbush Blueberry Council (USHBC), the imports of blueberries in contemporary and dried paperwork grew from virtually 0 in 2009 to one,900 tonnes in 2020, making India some of the international’s best importers of blueberries. This industry between the US and India is rising at a charge of round 30 % in step with yr.
Whilst those numbers are emerging once a year, Maharashtra’s Keya Salot has stepped as much as deliver those numbers down to some degree. “In 2021-22, India was once uploading $2.2 billion of unique culmination and greens. That’s no longer in point of fact a just right quantity. I sought after to get into the field to domesticate those unique types in the community. By way of doing this, it will additionally lead them to reasonably priced for shoppers past metros,” she tells The Higher India.
In 2021, Keya arrange Farm2Fam to domesticate those unique berries. These days, she has scaled up the manufacturing on 20 acres of land and estimates a manufacturing of no less than 135 tonnes of berries this yr.
In dialog with The Higher India, she sheds mild at the cutting edge strategies that helped her domesticate berries within the harsh climate prerequisites of the rustic.
Hand over regulation to transform a farmer
Born and taken up in Mumbai, Keya was once a legal professional by way of occupation. After pursuing regulation from Mumbai’s Govt Legislation School, she persevered her observe with regulation corporations for almost 4 years till she understood her calling.
“I had at all times sought after to transform a farmer. For me, the speculation of pursuing regulation was once at all times to later focal point on entrepreneurship. However ahead of that, I sought after to get just right get admission to to the criminal framework to construct a a hit industry. I sought after to paintings in an impactful sector to create an overly purpose-driven entrepreneurship programme which might no longer best receive advantages me in my opinion however would additionally receive advantages the society,” says the 32-year-old.
In 2018, she took a wreck from paintings to know the nitty-gritties of farming as she didn’t have any agricultural background. Initially, Keya began rising about 30 sorts of microgreens in a vertical set-up made at the terrace. Quickly, she began supplying them to eating places, and inside of six months, she on-boarded 50 purchasers. This boosted her self belief and allowed her to determine retail connections.
“All through this transition, I began researching at the forms of vegetation grown in different international locations that had received a large number of traction in agriculture. In comparison to international locations in South and Central The united states, India has no longer graduated past rising primary fundamental vegetation like paddy, sugarcane, and wheat,” she stocks.
“Even nowadays, regardless of a good portion of the financial system and the inhabitants being depending on agriculture, we aren’t ready to provide high-value vegetation. We wanted to make a choice vegetation that can get a relatively longer cycle however will give definitive returns,” she provides.
After a yr of study, Keya zeroed all the way down to cultivating the crop of blueberries and raspberries – cultivated in large part in the US, Russia, Mexico, Serbia, and Poland.
Making overseas vegetation adaptable with cutting edge strategies
Keya stocks the main problem in cultivating those unique types was once to lead them to adaptable to the Indian climate prerequisites. “Whilst blueberries require chilly winters and average to excessive rainfall right through its rising season, raspberries also are suited for temperate areas with cool summers and gentle winters,” she provides.
By way of past due 2019, Keya in conjunction with her husband, Vimal Salot, visited Mexico and Europe which had equivalent geometric prerequisites to Maharashtra. In 2020, she imported the primary set of saplings adaptable to Indian climate prerequisites and harvested the primary industrial yield in 2021.
With a view to domesticate them within the tropical local weather of Maharashtra, Keya opted for the tunnel approach of cultivation that overcame the drawbacks of maximum climate prerequisites.
“We’re required to offer protection to vegetation like raspberries and blueberries from excessive temperatures. Recently, India best has poly properties as an infrastructure for safe cultivation, and in geographical climates like Maharashtra, we’d like coverage from harsh prerequisites slightly than including warmth,” she stocks.
“So, we evolved our personal cheap tunnel buildings for rising those berries the place we will be able to upload or take away the plastic quilt as in step with the elements necessities and deal with supreme temperature prerequisites for the expansion of crops. With this, we will be able to now supply a hotter local weather all over the iciness nights and cooler prerequisites for enlargement all over the summer season days, along with protective the vegetation from rain. This system has its beginning within the Ecu international locations the place they use the construction to offer protection to the warmth,” she provides.
Keya put in cheap tunnels in about 80 % of her farm and is cultivating no less than seven sorts of unique berries. “Rising blueberries beneath excessive tunnels protects them from extremes of temperature, calls for much less water, and yields extra fruit. This system additionally is helping blueberries ripen previous. As a substitute of the standard harvest length that lasts just for a couple of weeks, we will be able to harvest yields for 4 to 5 months with this system,” she informs.
Highlighting some of the different demanding situations she confronted in putting in the farm industry in Talegaon, Pune, Keya says, “Gaining access to land was once extraordinarily tough for us because it was once very tough to persuade a farmer to rent their land to a town dweller. As you would not have a base in a village, it invitations a large number of aversion. However after 3 to 4 months of making an attempt our arms, we were given our first piece of land. It took a while to construct believe a few of the farmers.”
These days, she has expanded the manufacturing on 20 acres of land and expects a bountiful harvest of no less than 135 tonnes of berries this season. As of now, she has collaborated with supply companions like Swiggy and Zepto, and supermarkets like Megastar Bazaar, KisanKonnect, Reliance Retail, and Nature’s Basket to ship the produce.
Speaking about her transition from being a legal professional to an cutting edge farmer, Keya says, “This is a belief that agriculture isn’t a successful industry. On the identical time, an enormous portion of our financial system rests on it. It’s the accountability of folks with publicity to modify this belief slightly than worry it.”
“I think if I had best practiced regulation, the type of affect that I might have had would were a lot smaller than what I’m having nowadays in relation to cultivating new forms of vegetation by way of the usage of cutting edge strategies,” she provides.
Edited by way of Padmashree Pande; All pictures: Keya Salot.