A Meghalaya village produces India’s best strawberries and has changed the lives of farmers there in the process
Ratnadip Choudhury
Sohliya, Meghalaya
FOR HALF a decade now, a silent horticulture revolution is on in Meghalaya, the abode of clouds. At the heart of it is a small picturesque village – Sohliya – around 30km from Shillong where the villagers have scripted a story of success and economic development by huge production of the fruit of love – the strawberry.
Now Sohliya is aiming to bring a record size area under cultivation in two years with a clear mandate to become the strawberry hub of India.
Yosilda Dkhar, a Khasi woman in her mid-30s, goes from village to village in Ri Bhoi district of Meghalaya asking village women to come forward for strawberry cultivation. The number is fast growing. “There was a time when we could barely eke out a living. But today, I have a bank balance from strawberry cultivation. It just took us five years to change our fortunes with the fruit, which is identified with love and compassion. Perhaps this was the All Mighty’s gift to us,” Dkhar says. Like her, hundreds of Khasi women in and around Sohliya have started to make a better living out of the berry revolution.
“I have three acres under cultivation and make a profit of Rs 50,000 a year,” says another farmer J Lyngdoh. Meghalaya’s tryst with strawberries began in 1998 in Barnyhat in Ri Bhoi district bordering Assam. Now, there are nearly 800 families engaged in the trade, Sohliya village being the epicenter.
“The initial days were difficult. We realised the weather was conducive but we neither had the raw material nor the expertise. It was difficult to convince the farmers to turn to strawberry as they thought it was not a natural fruit. Slowly things started to turn,” recalls O Lyngkhoi, general secretary of the Ri Bhoi Strawberry Growers Association.
Initially they got the raw material from Maharashtra, the number one state in strawberry cultivation. The change came in 2004 when the Meghalaya government got enthusiastic and came up with an action plan to promote strawberry. Soon, came the saplings and technology all the way from California.
Meghalaya produces about 350 metric tonne a year and seeks to reach 500mt by 2013. Right now it is ranked third in strawberry production after Maharashtra and Punjab. The demand for Meghalaya’s strawberries is increasing. Apart from reaching new markets in India, they are being exported to Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh. From Bangladesh, the Meghalaya berries are travelling to West Asia. At the moment, around 45 hectares are under strawberry cultivation. Lyngkhoi and his team want to adds another 60 hectares over two years. “These days strawberry cultivation in Meghalaya is financially the most viable agricultural produce. It has changed lives. The Centre of Excellence for strawberry cultivation in Umsning has also been for good,” says Purbasha Bhattacharjee, a young journalist from Shillong.
Meghalaya’s strawberry is considered among the best in India. Valentine’s Day is celebrated as strawberry festival in the state and now Khasi households brew strawberry wine in Ri Bhoi district. Truly, this is Meghalaya’s date with the loveable berry.
Ratnadip Choudhury is a Principal Correspondent with Tehelka. ratnadip@tehelka.com
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