KIWI : NUTRITIONAL POWER HOUSE AND ITS VALUE CHAIN ANALYSIS

KIWI FRUIT

Kiwifruit or Chinese gooseberry (Actinidia deliciosa) is known as ‘China’s miracle fruit, In North East, it is being cultivated in Arunachal Pradesh in some sizable area North Eastern State has diverse agro climatic The kiwifruit grow well from 300-2000m above mean sea level,needs warm and humid climate it requires moderate to high rainfall conditions. Kiwifruit requires 700-800 chilling hours below 7 0C. The summer temperature should not go beyond 35°C.

WHY KIWI FRUIT HAS POTENTIAL

Kiwifruit generally ripens from October to December, which is the lean period for other fruits in the market, so the price for kiwi fruit is always high.The fruits can be stored for longer period of time which makes it possible to supply for extended period.It has high nutritive and medicinal value It has more fibre than most breakfast cereals, It is a rich source of sugars and several minerals such as phosphorus, potassium and calcium. It is a rich source of vitamin ‘C’ and ‘E’ and low in calories It has multiple use can eaten fresh,processed in jam etc .seed used in pastries,flowers in perfume and roots in insecticide.

TOTAL PRODUCTION IN 2010-2011

REGION	AREA(HA)	PRODUCTION(MT)	PRODUCTIVITY(MT/HA)	YEAR
NER	2,670	4,097	1.53	2010-2011
ARUNACHAL PRADESH	2,620	3,930	1.50	2010-2011
MIZORAM	50	157	3.14	2010-2011

Source: NHB and State Departments (2010-11)

Kiwi fruit is mainly grown in Arunahal Pradesh it produces around 97% of total kiwi fruit in NER nd rest 3% from Mizoram.

ARUNACHAL PRADESH

AGRO-CLIMATIC ZONES IN ARUNACHAL PRADESH

AGRO-CLIMATIC ZONE	CROP	AREA/DISTRICTS
TEMPERATE	KIWI	High-hills of West kameng,ziroTawang,upper subansiri,siang.

Source: “An In-depth Market Study and Impact Assessment Report”

SEASONALITY OF CROP

CROP

JAN

FEB

MAR

APR

MAY

JUN

JLY

AUG

SEP

OCT

NOV

DEC

KIWI

BEG

PEAK

LEAN

Source: “An In-depth Market Study and Impact Assessment Report”

VALUE CHAIN ANALYSIS

Production Practices

The most popular varieties grown are Alison and Harvard. During the crop cycle, the farmers do not apply any kind of chemical fertilisers, insecticides, pesticides and weedicides. Only FyM/Vermicompost are applied at the rate of 5-7 kg per plant. At the field level, due to fruit drop and insects, pests and diseases, the fruit loss is nearly 5-10 percent.

Post-harvest Practices:

Harvesting: The fruiting period is two months i.e. October and November. The yield in the region is nearly 3-4 MT/ha.

Value Addition at Farm Level: the farmers carry out the manual sorting and grading of the fresh produce on the basis of weight as follows:

GRADE	WEIGHT(GM)	MARKET
A	90 AND ABOVE	EXPORT
B	60-90	DOMESTIC
C	50-60	DOMESTIC
D	40-50	PROCESSING

Marketing & Logistics:

The fruits are transported in mini trucks without any kind of packaging, or packed in gunny bags. The farmers either sell the fresh fruit directly to consumers at the local or main market The farmers carry the fruit on head loads to the nearest transport point and from there it is transported by jeep/maxi to the local market. The post-harvest losses during transportation from local market to main market are nearly 8-10 percent due to the perishable nature of the fruit.

THE FRUIT SOLD ON THE BASIS OF GRADE

GRADE	WEIGHT(GM)	FARMER SELLING PRICE(Rs)	MARKET	MARKT PRICE(Rs)
A	90 AND ABOVE	100/KG	EXPORT	150-200/KG
B	60-90	65/KG	DOMESTIC	100-125/KG
C	50-60	50/KG	LOCAL	75-100/KG
D	40-50	35/KG	PROCESSING

In most of the cases, the farmers sell the whole orchard to the contractor before harvesting at a pre-fixed price. However, some farmers do sell the produce to the middlemen/aggregators/ traders from outside places such as Guwahati, Silchar, Kolkata and Delhi.

PRICE BUILTUP (per kg) FROM FARM GATE TO CONSUMER

Particulars	AMOUNT(Rs)	PRICE MARKUP(Rs/kg)	%CONTRIBUTION
AVG SELLING OF FARMER	65	65	52.11
AGGREGATOR CHARGE(15-20%)	13	78	10.42
TRANSPORT TO MAIN MARKET INCLD LOADING & UNLOADING	2	80	1.60
COST OF WASTAGE(8-10%)	8	88	6.41
WHOLESALE MARGIN(30-35%)	30.80	118.80	24.69
COST OF WASTAGE(3-5%)	5.94	124.74	4.76

Source: ISAP analysis from various stakeholders’ interaction

THE MAJOR CONCERNS

Land Tenure and Ownership System

Land ownership and laws are uneven and unclear in the entire NE Region. The entire system falls under the following three broad categories:

- Land owned collectively by the villagers

- Land owned by the tribal chiefs, who allot land among the individual households for shifting cultivation purposes, and

- Individually-owned land.

Poor Cultivation Practices and Low Productivity

Small land holdings, poor investment capacity, general neglect and non-adoption of scientific cultivation practices are the major constraints for poor return from the crops in the Region and despite the favourable agro-climatic conditions, the rate of production and growth is low

Poor and Weak Extension System

Despite high potential, difficult terrain with poor connectivity, lack of trained & dedicated human resources and poor coordination among departments are some of the key factors responsible for ineffective and poor extension programme.

Poor Logistics and Connectivity

Poor infrastructure in terms of roads and railways are the main constraints in the development of NE Region Due to hilly terrain, most of the farmers transport their saleables on head loads (in case of periodic markets), as the public transport in the region is expensive and mostly inaccessible from the production zones or villages.The movement of produce to main (urban) markets is through buses/mini trucks/jeeps that add up transportation costs.

Poor Marketing and Post-harvest Infrastructure

Due to lack of organised and alternative marketing structure in the region, farmers are getting low return compared to the other parts of India, whereas the middlemen get the profit at their expense. Lack of primary processing, logistics, marketing and post-harvest infrastructure across various levels of the value chain, are the major factors for quality detoriation and value loss of the perishable produce in the region.

Lack of Processing Industries

For NE Region, particularly Arunachal Pradesh the success of growing perishables is closely linked to the success of fruit processing units. The processing industry can help in sorting out the problem of proper disposal of perishable commodities. To date, there are hardly any cold storage facilities available.

RECOMMENDATION

- Formation of kiwi farmer’s group for efficient marketing practices and price negotiation

- Marketing through organized channel by diret procurement from farm gate by corporate groups

- Logistics systems should be upgraded to access the major market in india.

- Integrated pack house should be installed to grade high quality kiwi to target export and prime Indian market

- Hard berries should be harvested for distant markets

- Certification of organically managed orchards.

REFERENCE

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiwifruit.

http://gbpihedenvis.nic.in/html/vol16_1/a.%20singh.htm

www.sfacindia.com

http://www.apeda.gov.in/apedawebsite/index.asp

http://www.sikkimagrisnet.org/General/en/NERMAC.aspx

PAWAN TIWARI

Kiwi Fruit - Value Chain Analysis