India wants to join the strawberry superpowers
India’s strawberry industry, concentrated in Maharashtra’s Mahabaleshwar region, is profitable but remains dependent on plant varieties developed and patented in the US and Europe. Farmers face high annual costs for replacement plants and significant weather-related risks, while researchers hope domestic breeding could reduce reliance on imports and produce crops better suited to Indian heatwaves.
About 85% of India’s strawberries are grown in Mahabaleshwar, where the cool November-to-March season and well-drained soil favour cultivation. Imported mother plants are quarantined and propagated into daughter plants for sale, with each mother plant typically producing about 20 offspring; a university-led gamma-irradiation breeding project may take 10 to 15 years to create India’s first locally developed variety.
In short
- India depends on imported strawberry varieties.
- Mahabaleshwar produces most Indian strawberries.
- Domestic climate-resilient plants may take years.
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The case for
Developing Indian strawberry varieties could reduce farmers’ dependence on costly imported plants and allow breeding for local conditions, including heatwaves. A domestic breeding programme may strengthen the industry’s resilience and give India greater control over an important crop, even if results take years.
The case against
The industry already relies on imported varieties that support profitable production, and replacing them with locally bred plants could take 10 to 15 years and bring uncertain results. With weather risks and annual plant costs already weighing on farmers, investment in breeding may be less useful in the near term than improving access to proven varieties and managing cultivation risks.
Explained simply
India has a growing strawberry industry, largely concentrated in the Mahabaleshwar region of Maharashtra state. The cool season from November to March and the well-drained soil in this area are particularly suitable for growing strawberries.
Currently, Indian strawberry farmers are heavily dependent on plant varieties developed and patented by companies in the United States and Europe. They must purchase replacement plants each year at considerable expense, and these imported varieties may not be well suited to India's climate and weather challenges.
Researchers in India are now working on developing strawberry varieties bred domestically that would reduce the country's dependence on imports and create crops better adapted to local conditions. A university-led breeding project is underway, though creating the first locally developed variety could take ten to fifteen years.
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