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Introduces Japanese strawberry cultivation in India
GRA Japan specializes in strawberry cultivation. Now they bring their sweet strawberry to India. These strawberries are grown without soil in controlled hydroponic system. These red berries are unique for its taste, size and flavour. It is sold at premium price yet enjoys a good demand. GRA India is based at Talegaon, Pune and its first commercial project is coming up in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh.
The differences between strawberries grown in India and Japan are, “Strawberry grown in Mahabaleshwar, India is primarily American variety. It is sweet and sour in taste. The sugar content is 6-7 Bx (Brix is the unit for measuring sugar content) where as in Japanese strawberry it is 13 Bx. In addition the size of the fruit is comparatively bigger of Japan red berries,” explains Mr. Shyam Bhadane, Indian Representative.
The mother plants of strawberry are imported from Japan so as to ensure the quality of the berries remains intact. “Later these are propagated and baby plants developed at our Telegaon, Pune facility. These are supplied to pan India,” he adds.
Japanese strawberries are delicate in nature hence it has to be grown in fully automatic hydroponic system where the temperature and other climatic conditions are in control. Coco peat is the growing media for this fruit. Plants are grown on elevated benches in a EPS(Thermocole) trays and around 80000 plants are grown in one acre greenhouse. Trays are supported by GI Pipe stand and drain arrangement is done in a planned way. “We have multilayer growing facility that means double layer is possible apart from single layer cultivation system. It enables to grow 20 plants per sq meter. Production is bountiful in this technique,” says Mr. Bhadane. All operations are automated and there is hardly any human intervention in operations. “If the temperature exceeds 30 degree then it is threat to the plant survival. Therefore mostly the plantation is done during August to September and harvested 3 months of plantation.”
Most crucial aspect of Japanese strawberry cultivation is that honey bees are used for pollination. The pests that infect the strawberry plants are mite and aphid while the disease that harms the plants is mildu. To safeguard the plants company uses live biological pest from Koppert India. “We use biological controls for pests and normally organic material for disease control. Thus the fruit is nutrient rich and free from all sorts of chemical residue,” he asserts.
Mr. Bhadane informs, “We are working on tissue culture plants for our strawberry varieties to further increase the production keep the quality unharmed.” GRA India provides complete technical know-how and production as well as marketing assistance to its associates that implies concept to commissioning. “We take care of setting up greenhouse structure, irrigation, growing system, planting material and all required systems/equipments. We assist them with bank loan/subsidy proposal, follow-up. Training to the farmer/investor is provided at our site in Pune/Hyderabad at different crop stage – both practical and theory. Agronomy support from Japanese expert is available as required. Further, we transform the existing greenhouse structure as per our requirement to manage the cost.” Return on Investment is maximum four years.
Japanese strawberry is sold at Rs. 500/kg. “Without any publicity the fruit was sold at this price last year! The shelf life is two days but with pre-cooling it stays for a week. If the fruit is harvested in morning and sold by the end of the day then it stays fresh but for supplying far off places or exports it certainly needs pre-cooling,” he says.
GRA India was set up in 2012. In future it only focuses on expansion throughout the country. “Our first commercial project is in Hyderabad while 5-6 more in process. We are sure to reach out to all the states in India with our strawberry production business!” he signs off.
Contact details:
GRA India Pvt Ltd.
No. 46, B T Kawade Road, Ghorpadi,
Near Pawar Baug, Pune - 411001,
Maharashtra
Mobile: +91 879 607 1743, 839 068 8263
Email: shyam.bhadane@gra-inc.jp
Web: http://www.gra-inc.jp/
GRA Japan specializes in strawberry cultivation. Now they bring their sweet strawberry to India. These strawberries are grown without soil in controlled hydroponic system. These red berries are unique for its taste, size and flavour. It is sold at premium price yet enjoys a good demand. GRA India is based at Talegaon, Pune and its first commercial project is coming up in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh.
The differences between strawberries grown in India and Japan are, “Strawberry grown in Mahabaleshwar, India is primarily American variety. It is sweet and sour in taste. The sugar content is 6-7 Bx (Brix is the unit for measuring sugar content) where as in Japanese strawberry it is 13 Bx. In addition the size of the fruit is comparatively bigger of Japan red berries,” explains Mr. Shyam Bhadane, Indian Representative.
The mother plants of strawberry are imported from Japan so as to ensure the quality of the berries remains intact. “Later these are propagated and baby plants developed at our Telegaon, Pune facility. These are supplied to pan India,” he adds.
Japanese strawberries are delicate in nature hence it has to be grown in fully automatic hydroponic system where the temperature and other climatic conditions are in control. Coco peat is the growing media for this fruit. Plants are grown on elevated benches in a EPS(Thermocole) trays and around 80000 plants are grown in one acre greenhouse. Trays are supported by GI Pipe stand and drain arrangement is done in a planned way. “We have multilayer growing facility that means double layer is possible apart from single layer cultivation system. It enables to grow 20 plants per sq meter. Production is bountiful in this technique,” says Mr. Bhadane. All operations are automated and there is hardly any human intervention in operations. “If the temperature exceeds 30 degree then it is threat to the plant survival. Therefore mostly the plantation is done during August to September and harvested 3 months of plantation.”
Most crucial aspect of Japanese strawberry cultivation is that honey bees are used for pollination. The pests that infect the strawberry plants are mite and aphid while the disease that harms the plants is mildu. To safeguard the plants company uses live biological pest from Koppert India. “We use biological controls for pests and normally organic material for disease control. Thus the fruit is nutrient rich and free from all sorts of chemical residue,” he asserts.
Mr. Bhadane informs, “We are working on tissue culture plants for our strawberry varieties to further increase the production keep the quality unharmed.” GRA India provides complete technical know-how and production as well as marketing assistance to its associates that implies concept to commissioning. “We take care of setting up greenhouse structure, irrigation, growing system, planting material and all required systems/equipments. We assist them with bank loan/subsidy proposal, follow-up. Training to the farmer/investor is provided at our site in Pune/Hyderabad at different crop stage – both practical and theory. Agronomy support from Japanese expert is available as required. Further, we transform the existing greenhouse structure as per our requirement to manage the cost.” Return on Investment is maximum four years.
Japanese strawberry is sold at Rs. 500/kg. “Without any publicity the fruit was sold at this price last year! The shelf life is two days but with pre-cooling it stays for a week. If the fruit is harvested in morning and sold by the end of the day then it stays fresh but for supplying far off places or exports it certainly needs pre-cooling,” he says.
GRA India was set up in 2012. In future it only focuses on expansion throughout the country. “Our first commercial project is in Hyderabad while 5-6 more in process. We are sure to reach out to all the states in India with our strawberry production business!” he signs off.
Contact details:
GRA India Pvt Ltd.
No. 46, B T Kawade Road, Ghorpadi,
Near Pawar Baug, Pune - 411001,
Maharashtra
Mobile: +91 879 607 1743, 839 068 8263
Email: shyam.bhadane@gra-inc.jp
Web: http://www.gra-inc.jp/