A strawberry park has been set up at Munnar, which will be made a strawberry hub. Agriculture Minister V.S. Sunilkumar will inaugurate the park on Monday.
The Agriculture Department, Horticulture Mission, Horticorp, and Haritha Keralam Mission, with the support of the United Nations Development Project (UNDP), have drawn up a plan to make Munnar a centre of strawberry cultivation.
The fruit was first cultivated in the Kanan Devan Hills Plantation (KDHP) areas on a trial basis over a decade ago and the crop spread slowly to nearby Kanthallur and Vattavada.
Farmers in the two villages largely shifted to strawberry cultivation in 2012-13 and model strawberry farms were set up by the Agriculture Department at Kanthallur in 2015. However, lack of processing units proved a dampener as the fruit is easily perishable. The farmers were forced to sell the fruit at ₹85 a kg with many abandoning the cultivation altogether.
Now, a processing unit has been opened by the Horticorp at the strawberry park.
200 farmers
Prince Mathew, deputy director, State Horticulture Mission, told The Hindu on Saturday that 200 farmers of Devikulam taluk were engaged in strawberry cultivation in 70 ha of land. The plan was to increase the cultivation to 100 ha of land. Climatic conditions in Devikulam was most favourable for the crop, he said, adding that tourists would be allowed to pluck the fruit from the farm at the park.
In addition, all value-added products, including strawberry jam, squash, honey preserve, and strawberry preserve are made available at the unit.
The Horticulture Mission provided 1.5 lakh saplings free of cost to the farmers last year and the harvest has already begun.
The processing unit directly procure strawberry from the farmers at ₹400 a kg. After the ripe fruit is harvested, it takes the plant five days to be ready for the next bout.
