Hi,
I recently came across a short news article in one of Agri based shows on a telugu news channel. A farmer from Anantapur District of Andhra Pradesh, growing pomegranates in an area of 14 acres has contracted out the cutting and marketing of the fruits to a contractor at a price of whopping 34 Lakhs for the whole 14 acres. . I couldn’t get the details of the farmer. I assume, such high profits are a result of high pomegranate prices (170-180 Rs/Kg retail for pomegranate in Bangalore)
Points to be noted are
Farming style was totally NPK based (no Organic/natural Farming)
Variety of fruits was Ganesh
Farm was approximately 8 yrs of age
Only maintenance costs like fertigation, irrigation etc.
No expense of labor for cutting and transport as it was the responsibility of the contractor
The channel worked out the numbers and the profits turned out to be approx 2.2 L per acre after deducting all the expenses. My questions are the following
What is the profitability of having fruit orchards?
What are the best practices that can be followed for pomegranate farming?
What is the ideal spacing for trees in a pomegranate farm
Any possible intercropping/symbiotic farming
What are the implications of taking the Organic route for pomegranates?
Is it possible to achieve similar results and replicate the same numbers anywhere else
I just want to caution you on this. Chitradurga,Tumkur, some parts beallary, Kopala etc. Farmers are planting pomorganite like anything.
I was travelling from Arsikere to Chitradurga I could notice Kilometers long orchards(this just road side view). All are 1,2,3 year old plants.
I am not sure when these orchards start yeilding, market gets flooded. Are farmers repeating Vanilla or Ginger story?
Vanilla is a past, Ginger saga is still continuing. Rates of Ginger were 2010=3k to 4.5K 2011= 350/-(yes it was threefifty) 2012=2K to 3K 2013= 2.8K to 4.5 rates are per bag of 60Kg(actually 62Kg but counted as 60)
Who ever I come across has planted ginger this year I am hoping to see a low rate this year.
Average Ginger yiled/acre is 170 bags. this year so many sold at 3.5K/bag 5.95 lacs/acre expense /acre is about 80-90K
I know above story has nothing to do with Pomogranite but you can co relate scenario. When there is cash rich crop everybody will have an eye on that.
In the pursuit of cashrich crop, everybody goes after it, there will be overproduction and rates get slashed like anything.
Sri,
Just wanted to know if there is any other usage of Pomegranate other than as fruit or for making Juices. If over flooding of stocks into the markets is an issue, then farmers should think of innovative ways to store/Save the products so that they can put these to use when the prices are more.?
Food processing is the best way to beat the slump in rates of fresh produce. .but that needs additional investment and better marketing strategies to push the processed food. Moreover a farmer cannot do the same since he/she would have spent most of their money on farm and wont have additional cash on hand.
There are research in progress of using Pomegranate juice as a electrolyte in dye solar cells as an alternative to conventional silicon based solar cells.
Challenge now is how to keep this dye from getting dry when exposed to high temperature sunlight.
If there is a breakthrough, it potentially could be a game changer in Pomegranate market.
pomegranate has probably the highest alternate uses… first as fresh fruit as it has a better shelf life. second arils are extracted and exported. third arils are sun dried for anardana… one of the best ayurvedic medicines for stomach. fourth the skin is used for making natural dye (yellow)… juice is always there but that needs marketing … but broadly speaking the medicinal value of pom out weighs any and every thing… isreal is making wine from pomegranate fruit but then they have developed a better variety for it…and now i hear this solar thing!!!
I have been researching on this subject for more than a year now but i have not made much headway yet…
can some one tell me about some good books on the same with the indian context…
Also if some one can share personal knowledge i would be extreamly grateful…
right now i am planning a 9’by 13’grid
thanks
ashish
. I couldn’t get the details of the farmer. I assume, such high profits are a result of high pomegranate prices (170-180 Rs/Kg retail for pomegranate in Bangalore)