http://www.freshplaza.com/news_detail.asp?id=52652

Citrus production in India on the increase

The citrus production in India has increased in the last few years, with new plantations in the north and central regions of the country. The crop area is 11% of agricultural land.

A rise in Australian imports to India has been reported this week, and according to Vedprakash Sharma from the Indian Society of Agribusiness Professionals, this is mainly varieties which are not produced in India, and due to the quality, the preferences of the processing industry and time of production.

Due to the droughts in the Nagpur region, the main region for the winter citrus crop, the winter production was affected. Quality as well as production was low, the forecast is of a a drop of between 10-15%.

Mr Sharma expects the demand for citrus to increase in the coming year, measures to meet this demand are also in place. But due to the price rise in the domestic market and the needs of the industry, the overall result for next year could be the same.

The processing industry meets the requirements for export. "The processing industry in India is relatively small so the immediate impact of imported processed produce will not be big," Mr Sharma tells us.

Global warming is having an effect on the Indian citrus industry. This years scanty and untimely rains affected the winter crop and new plantations. The growth of the plants, size of fruits, blossom dropping and productivity were also affected.

Mr Sharma concludes by saying that he does not think the Indian agricultural sector as a whole will be affected by the financial crisis.


Publication date: 10/23/2009

The name Nagpur is both the name of a large mandarin producing region in the northern part of India, and also the name of the largest mandarin variety produced in that region --- the Nagpur Mandarin. In India, the fruit is called Nagpur, in the USA it is called Ponkan. Ponkan and Nagpur are the same variety. Ponkans (Nagpur) are the most widely grown mandarin in the world. Sometimes you hear it called the Chinese Honey orange. The book "Citrus Fruit Biology, Technology & Evaluation" by Milind S. Ladaniya, gives a lot of information on Indian varieties and Indian production methods. - Millet (1,173-)



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