Hi All,
I would like to know the Top 20 Fruits & Vegetables that can be grown. (Will be there oversupply in the market if everybody goes with the same?)
Is there a better way of making good income instead of going with the known Top 20 Fruits and Vegetables? Please let us know.
Regards
Padmanabhan Ganesan
9840807817
Hi All,
Plus one to Ganeshans request. Can any one share some info on the so called exotic European vegetables being used nowadays in India. Its market potential and how to grow it.
On the shelves of some super market one can see “Brocolli” and other green stuff. But turn on any cookery channel, one see all these stupid veggis being used. Cilantro and Parsely in place of our desi corriander, etc. the some “thime” and “rosemary” no idea in place of what ?
Are they really tasty or is only to fulfill the snob value ?? OR is some marketing gimmick involved ?
Like the mediterrian Olive Oil mafia is pumping the useage of Olive Oils on all cookery shows on TV. Since ages Indians have survived and multiplied on local oils like mustard, coconut, groundmut, seasme etc etc. Now all of a sudden even Jaelabis from Olive Oil !!
Regards
Murali
Hi Murali,
vegetables like Broccoli, zucchini, asparagus are used in bulk in europe/western world and of course if we could meet european standards then the market is big. Taste is personal thing but in general these vegetables have good health value. Am sure if we could export keeping the standard (make it organic too 
) then market is big.
regarding your comment on olive oil, this is one of the healthiest oil to use. Our home grown desi ghee is another best oil to use for good health (lowering cholesterol etc etc). Most of the other oil we use have one or the other disadvantages and one may see the difference in health of Europeans vs us - more heart disease and other issues. Anyway, I dont want to start debate on nutrition value of each oil but in general Ghee and olive oil are best oils for consumption.
Finally must say, as long as there is market in western world and we can fulfill with (comparative) cheaper price (which would still be higher margin for us) and there is no negative impact on our environment then lets do it…
cheers
Aditya
Hi Ganeshan,
Top 20 for one area may not be best for your area. You may go to agmarknet.nic.in/profile/profile … combo3.asp and check the typical arrivals in the wholesale market near you. Of course they are the one which are produced most. That also means that there is high price risk in case of oversupply but at least you are sure that there is market for those produce.
You may do cost benefit for each crop and see what works best for you. However if you are planning to export then get information on exports for the fruits and vegetable. I dont have link but there are many companies who would sell that data for a cost. Once you know which products are exported (guess Mango, Banana, Apple would top the list) then you may zoom down to the products which you could do in your land and you get the answer…
finally you may also have to look at your budget constraint. Just an example, there is good market to sell flowers and if you invest in infrastructure you could get good margin. In addition to that if you could even have a plant to get the essential oil then the profit margin would be very high. 3-4 times you get from selling in domestic market at least.
Hope this helps
Cheers
Aditya
Hi Aditya,
Thanks for the input. As regards to the European vegetables, I think many are growing it here to meet the domestic demands. Export is a good option, but the risks are far too many.
Do you have any list of those vegetables which are more popular vs which can be grown in tropical places like in India. if so kindly share it here for the benefit of others. Last time I saw some of these veggies, all priced in excess of Rs 200 / KG, cleverly packed 100 gms with a price tag from Rs 30 to 50.
As regards to Olive Oil, I still feel its a collective olive industry mafia. something similar to the wine industry propaganda about its health benefits, which off late in news papers we are reading it as false.
How I wish if such a collective collaboration exists in India, Probably then things here would have been different for our farmers.
Atleast a few hundred years back such a collaboration existed here for Spices !! and we all know there was a mad rush to find sea route to that Glorious India.
I am proud that in Malnad region, there exists such a thing for Areacanut. If prices are less they simply do not sell it till they get the right price. But poor veggies, they cant be stored !!
Regards
Murali
Hi All,
I know many people are growing fruit trees & vegetables in their land. I am trying to understand the standard fruits and vegetables that are grown in their land.
Please note I am giving below the details of Fruits & Vegetables that I came across from different sources and please take it as a sample rather than as an exhaustive list.
1 amla
2 Arecanut catechu
3 avacado
4 banana
5 ber
7 cashewnut
8 chickoo
9 cocoa
10 coconut + Michelia champaka
11 custard apple
12 date palm
13 guava
14 herile
15 Indian gooseberry
16 jackfruit
17 jambulana
18 jujuba (ber) (Z. mauritiana)
19 lemon
20 lime
21 litchee
22 Mango
23 oil palm
24 papaya
25 pineapple
26 pomegranate
27 punarpuli
28 roseapple
29 sapota
30 starfruit
31 surinam cherry
32 tamarind
33 west indian cherry
1 amaranth
2 ash gourd
3 beans
4 bitter gourd
5 bottle gourd
7 brinjal
8 cabbage
9 carrot
10 cassava
11 cauliflower
12 chilli
13 colocasia
14 country bean
15 cucurbits
16 daikon radish
17 Dioscorea villosa
18 eggplant
19 garlic
20 groundnut
21 kidney bean
22 ladies finger
23 lentil
24 lettuce
25 moringa oliefera
26 okra
27 potato
28 pumpkin
29 radish
30 snake gourd
31 solanum
32 spinach
33 squash
34 sweet potato
35 tomatoes
36 vines gherkin
37 water melon
38 winged bean
39 yam
40 yard-long bean
While there are so many still out there, I wish to identify the Top 20 Fruits & Vegetables which is easily marketable and known to people as well.
I am sure many people will have their own preferences but I would like to know the market preferences.
Regards
Padmanabhan Ganesan
9840807817
Hi Ganesan,
That for sure is an exhaustive list. Thanks for sharing the same.
As regards to your 20 top veggies and fruits, Its really a nice idea to just concentrate on it. Here in South India, I have seen even veggies are caste conscious 
The white pumpkins and the sweet pumpkins, used by only brahmiins. Again some veggies are never used in any festive or marriage feasts. eg Raw banana, greens, Yam, potato etc being some.
The best idea would be to religiously attend all the functions for which we receive the invitations , be it marriage or naming ceremony etc. It would be easy to pick up the veggies list, as more or less the dishes dished out would be same except for sweets . What do you say ? 
Here is my list that are a must for any large scale feasts, South India, mainly karnataka and tamil nadu… So must have some good demand.
Above forms some common veggies based on the routine dishes being churned out, being marriage or any other functions viz, one type of sambar (mono veg or mix veg) , one rasam, two veg palyas or curries, some kurma, one gojju. some pulov or rice bath, one cucumber raitha and in some occasional cases morekolumbu. 
IS this approach right ? 
Regards
Murali
I am actually doing this at marriages, hotels, parties and now go with wife and mom on shopping trips just to get a feel of things
in mumbai some of the items that i have seen sell quickly
banana
mosambi
chickoo
peru (guava)
orange
watermelon
papaya
muskmelon
mango
veggies
kanda
batata
tamatar
laal / safed / pila bhopla (pumpkin)
bhindi
baingan
singh
padval
suran
assortment of beans
ginger / curry leaves / green chilly
gowar
tendli
cabbage
cauliflower
palak
methi
assortment of gourds
Hi Brijesh,
Thats nice to know, but in your list I could see some veggies that are a rarity in Karnataka.eg Kandla, Thindli, singh etc.
As you have listed it out, I could see some veggies that never ever crosses Rs 15/kg for years together. Ex Radish or Moolie, here in Bangalore the psychological price barrier is Rs 10 to 15 for it. If it ever crosses my mom and other ladies in my road, goes for something else which is ruling the roost on that day.
The reason being, for any of the functions some of these type of veggies are never ever consumed. So why waste time on it, except for growing it for home or neighbor needs.
As Ganesan says it is better to concentrate on just 10 types of veggies, that too non seasonal and if grown on acres, the main criteria should be that it must “Function Friendly”. Else the whole sale buying prices for some never ever exceeds Rs 3 to 5 at markets.
Brijesh, can you list out some exotic veggies that gets consumed in 3 star or snob value restaurants. Broccoli, Zucchini etc are popular, but if grown and not consumed, I myself dont know what to cook with it, forget one generation older to me 
If caste is not a barrier, how about country chickens the colored ones ?? In one acre can 50 to 100 can be freelanced 
Some menu boards I could see “Nati Chicken Biriyani etc etc”
Regards
Murali
Agree with Murali on researching pricing too…
Basically, there are two options - go for commodity I.e. vegetables consumed in bulk with low price and high pricing sensitivity. For these vegetables like raffish, cabbage, tomato one or second farmer doesn’t matter for buyer. As long even 50 paise per kg different - they can switch source.
However labour is cheap, they know how to grow it and your time is less required. This should be part of your farm since this would give regular cash flow whatever the time is.
Second way is go for niche market. Grow exotic things for which you can name the price and once you have secured the buyer it’s good flow. Volume may not be high but margins would be. However risk is that you need high investment cost, more skilled labor nd of course of woud spend more of your time to ensure quality. When market is bad, demand could be an issue
I would suggest that speak to good restaurants, super market or export agents in your area and many be start with 10 to 15% of your farm produce as exotic and slowly take it to 50% or so…
Cheers
Aditya
my list was based on kerala menu
kanda = onion
singh = moringa (Murungai in tamil, murinakka in mallu) best for sambar (see photo below)
tendli = gherkin (again used in south indian mallu thoran or avial)
yeah brocolli and the other one are high value snob restaurant items and also onion leaves (onion with tail like extensions or leaves or hair if you call it)
nadan chicken red color is very tasty, we have this in backyard in kerala (our ones are dangerous though, big and bad tempered and dig up the base of newly planted banana or other stuff for god knows what…so we have now made a device by taking around 3 inches of cycle rubber tube …making a hole and making the cock wear that as a bangle to stop rowdy behaviour)
Tendli is not gherkin. They are both different. Gherkins are a kind of cucumber.
Tendli is Ivy Gourd in English, Tondekai in kannada.
Singh or seengh or moringa is know as nuggekai .
Hope it helps Murali
Murali & Brijesh,
There are lots of exotic vegetables that can be grown in india as we are blessed with a very diverse climatic pattern.
I often see these vegetables at super markets and on street side vegetable stalls in Mumbai. I often wonder why the supermarkets and the vegetable vendors keep only limited number of these vegetables. Some of the reasons are:
Most of these exotics can be widely cultivated but are not. Why can the common man not eat broccoli for 20Rs a KG instead of 200 rs per KG? As you rightly say most Indian households don’t even know how to cook zucchini or broccoli. Trick is to market it well and educate people about these vegetables. I know a vendor in Mumbai who sells avocado. He has some brochures etc which he distributes to people mentioning benefits of the fruit and some recipes to go along with it. He sells well.
Im not sure if a farmer can do it though.
As we have discussed in the past, there are many things we don’t need to survive but we still buy them. Why? Marketing…
With proper marketing you can even sell shit err i mean shitty coffee coffeetea.about.com/cs/kindsofco … iluwak.htm
Im yet to figure out a model to market agri produce direct to the consumer.
Growing vegetables with “functions/ceremonies” in mind would be good if you can anticipate demand. Question is how do you do that? Also your harvest has to coincide with fixed dates/season.
Restaurants usually dont buy large quantities. If you are targeting restaurants then you have to make sure you can supply on a regular basis or they simply wont buy. How do you propose to supply it regularly if you are harvesting a particular vegetable once every 60-90 days?? Most vegetable yield in tonnes/acre. So even if you are growing on a paltry half acre, How do you sell such large volumes to restaurants?? Even if you manage to do it, marketing and distribution to restaurants could be a big headache since you have to do door to door delivery.
Super markets is more or less similar to restaurants. I suspect super markets can absorb what you can grow on an acre. If you go to any supermarket, you will see that they wont have more than 50kgs of any vegetable on any given day. Even if there are 100 supermarkets in a city, you simply cant sell more than 4-5 tonnes of your produce per day. What happens if there are 5 other farmers with the same produce as you have in the same city willing to sell to the super markets??? The other problem with super markets is they dont pay upfront and will usually ask for credit facility.
I think this is why traders/vendors/brokers are flourishing. They are very important for agriculture markets and I am not sure if we can cut them out totally. They ensure goods flow if goods from area of abundance to areas that lack it. Personally, i would try to simply minimize the number of brokers in between. For example. Im in mumbai and im trying to establish contacts with traders in Mumbai who buy various fruits/vegetable etc. So if i grow bananas in karnataka then i can elimate at least one broker from Karnataka and make a direct deal with the guy in Mumbai therefore realizing better money for my goods. Of course i have to deal with headaches like transportation etc but I am sure it wont be as hectic as dealing with many restaurants/super markets. Similarly, you can find vendors/traders in different cities/states.
@ Murali : Did you mean free ranged chicken?
Thanks to Agri Exec for clearing some of the vegges names.
Some of the vegges are climbers and for that it needs a lot of infrastructure effort. So if invested then that place you can only rotate with climbers. For padaval I have seen some stone pillars with GI wires running around.
So after so much of discussions, it looks like growing Vegges on large acreages is risky. or one can be very lucky. But it is luck, I know a guy here how got lucky like this. got around 3.5L per acre on carrot, when its price was hovering around Rs 75 here. But it was one time Jackpot.
But if you see the market and watch the prices, something similar to our BSE or stock market one can see the trend. Both for pulses and veggies. some time Thur dhal hits Rs 100 followed by channa etc. Also on vegges front we can see this, Carrot, Onion, tomato etc.
In one year I have noticed that all these king vegges which have function value goes for one such cycle. Only one needs to ride it when high. With one year data of prices can one be able to predict any thing like this. May be we need to approach a stock broker .
@ Agri Exec, what I meant for chicken was these coloured ones are left free on open fields. No day time cooping. In short I called it freelancers. One or two rooster and a few hens. Have you seen a cock having fun chasing hens all the time ?? So he is a freelancer. Means no attached responsibility
Regads
Murali
Guys,
I found an interesting cost benefit analysis Zucchini in Australia. Its quite detailed. However this would not be applicable for Indian situations so can I request for somebody’s help to see how would the costing be here.
Based on the analysis for Australia, its just 22% profit margin (which is high in Australia). Pricing is also different as in Australia its being sold at $1/KG (1 half carton = 10 kg) which is about inr 50 / kg. However if information here is correct - indicat.com/Market-Rates/Com … 20Zucchini we get only rs 20/KG in India. Could we validate that as well?
If price of rs 20 is correct then of course it would make sense to have addition cost and export it but I guess price in India should be much higher and cost should be lower than what they have mentioned in attached document making overall bigger profit.
BTW some information on growing guccini
dpi.vic.gov.au/agriculture/h … ni-marrows
Best Regards
Aditya
zucchini.pdf (24 KB)
Dear Mr.Brijesh,
I would like to add some more vegetables with good market demand
1.Parval (Pointed gourd) – popular in Gujarat – Biofarms growing in Idukki,Kerala & Kavli, Andhra
2.Yard beans
Leafy vegetable
Thank you
thanks biofarm
There is a very good export demand for gherkins. Gherkins are used as pickles in western food and cuisine. The price paid for gherkins depends on the size and the smaller the gherkins are, the higher the price. There are, I think, more than 200 gherkin pickle factories in India. A big cluster exists somewhere near Bangalore and another mini-cluster in Dindigul, Tamil Nadu.
These guys depend on farmers growing within a certain radius (say 50 or 75km) of their plant. Most of them used to do contract farming with small farmers, but with farmers turning out to be more cheats than growers, the practice of contract farming is dying a slow death. Anyway, thats a separate topic.
If there are any gherkin pickle factories near your farm, talk to their procurement/supply/general manager. The rates are pretty good and I heard Rs 25/- per kg farm gate price is normal.
Dear friend,
Plse forget about Export market. Find the system to restrict post harvest loss. India we have highest demand of fruits & Vegetables. Farmers unite together and go for efficient marketing channel.
A study made by biofarms to prevent post harvest loss and fetch better price for farmers
In India there is a very good market for PARVAL , Smooth gourd., yard beans, bitter gourd etc
In south Gujarat there is a big market for all.
With my experience with parval & Smoothy gourd,Bitter gourd== Idukki,KERALA
we are making the fresh fruits into round slices mix with salt & Turmeric powder and drying (using
dryer) drying cost is only Rs.3 /kg .
Advantages
Increase shelf life ( Post harvest damage nil)
Very good deand in local market
In kerala we are selling fresh fruits -Rs.30/kg (Parval)
Dry 200 gm selling — Rs.30/-
Bitter gourd 200 gm —Rs.30//-
Plse think for EFFICIENT POST HARVEST SYSTEM, AND FORGET ABOUT EXPORT MARKET &
CONCENTRATE ON OUR POWERFUL DOMESTIC MARKET,
Thank you
Dear Mr P. Ganesan
I wish you could try Avacado , Barbadine and Mango Stick for Mumbai Market all these are good Fruits I have Seen Growing easily at Central African Country with Climate just like ours very much Indian Climate
As Suggested by some members if you go more towards finish products like
Thanks And Regards
Kalpesh P Pandyya
