Success Story of a Strawberry Village

It is a story of village Saharwa of Hisar Distt. in Haryana State which has emerged as a strawberry hub in North India and become the second largest producer of strawberry in India after Mahableshwaram (Pune). The story of this exotic fruit crop in village Saharwa starts with the plantation of strawberry in one acre sandy soil by a scientist Dr. Anil Godara of CCS HAU, Hisar. Previously, the farmers of this village were growing traditional crops but after seeing the good crop of strawberry, farmers namely Ramphal & Raj kumar were impressed & motivated with the strawberry crop & they consulted the scientists of CCS HAU and KVK, Hisar and started the cultivation of strawberry. The crop was bumper and result was that some other farmers namely Barhmdev, Sumunder Sai, Rajesh, Rajesh Goswami, retired Head Master Balbir Singh, Surender and Rattan Singh with other fellow farmers contacted the scientists of KVK as well as CCS HAU, Hisar and started the cultivation of strawberry crop. Again the result was same and they got profit from this crop. Abhay Ram, Virender Sharma, Suresh and Azad Singh has been cultivating strawberry for the last 2 years and earning the good profit. Farmer Brahmdev on the suggestion of KVK team, started cultivation of strawberry crop in 2 acres. Previously, he was doing the cultivation of traditional crops like wheat, barley, gram, cotton & raya. But after getting more profit from strawberry crop, he never went on back foot. Now, he is cultivating the strawberry crop in his 8 acres. Likewise, the retired headmaster Balbir Singh started cultivation from one acre but now he is growing strawberry in four acres. On an average, a farmer is getting Rs.1.25 lac to 1.50 lac net returns per acre from the cultivation of strawberry crop. On the suggestion of the scientists of KVK, Hisar, these farmers established the Cooperative Society of the strawberry growers and they are selling their produce in the markets of Azadpur Mandi, New Delhi, Jaipur, Laudhiana and Amritsar. Keeping in view their interest, the KVK Hisar organized a state level Strawberry Field Day in village Saharwa during 2010 for encouraging the cultivation of this exotic fruit crop and about 300 farmers from different parts of Haryana participated and they showed their interest in strawberry crop which is reflected by the fact that the farmers of many villages of the Haryana state has started the cultivation of strawberry. Even in the Saharwa village, the area under strawberry is increased from 30 acres (2005-06) to 98 acres (2010-11) and the magnitude of increase is 226.6 per cent which indicates the popularity of this crop among the farmers.

To see the hi-tech cultivation of this exotic crop, many public representatives, other dignitaries as well as local administration frequently visit this village. The prominent among these are: the Members of Board Management of Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat including one Member of Legislative Assembly Assam, Dr. A.M. Narula Zonal Project Director, Zone 1, ICAR and Dr. S.A. Faruqui, Project Coordinator, AICRP on Forage Crops, IGFRI, Jhansi. In the month of the April, when the strawberry is over, the farmers are taking the crops of vegetables on the same beds with the help of drip & sprinkler irrigation methods suggested by KVK, Hisar which augmented their income. These strawberry growers not only fetching the remunerative income from this enterprise, but also providing the employment opportunities to about 150 persons on regular basis and about 60 persons on part time basis. To meet out the huge demand of packaging material for strawberry fruits, a farmer of this village Mr. Rajender Singh has recently started the manufacturing of packing kits and for this purpose he has established a small scale industry in the village and providing the regular employment to 7-8 unemployed rural youths of this village.

Strawberry Field

Picking of Strawberry

Visit by ZPD

Strawberry packing

Mulching of Strawberry field