Patna: Braj Kishore Mehta hails from Aurangabad district of Bihar. He used to migrate to Punjab to work as a farmhand. His earnings were meager. But strawberry has changed his fortunes. Mehta now is earning in lakhs and has set an example for other farmers of Bihar to follow. Mehta lives in Amba Chilkibigha village in Kutumba block of Aurangabad district.

In Punjab, he worked on farms where strawberries were commercially grown. Over the years he learned all the intricacies of growing the red- colored berries that are not common in India. Why not I start farming strawberries in my village? Thought Mehta while he was in Bihar last year during a break from his work. He cultivated the berries in over a bigha of farmland in his village. Mehta earned Rs 4 lakh as profit.

Confident with last year's success, Mehta this year has doubled the area of cultivation. He has become the first farmer in the state to grow strawberries on a large scale. Seeing Mehta’s success, other farmers have also decided to commercially cultivate strawberries. Seeing the trend of farmers towards strawberry cultivation in the district, the District Administration is living 90 per cent subsidy to the farmers, confirmed Saurabh Jorwal, DM, Aurangabad.

He said: "To promote strawberry cultivation in the district we are giving grant to farmers. It was an initiative of a single farmer but now it has become very popular among the farmer fraternity across the district. Presently strawberry cultivation is done on about 100 acres of land in the district. Farmers usually bring strawberry saplings from Pune but we are putting in sincere effort to provide saplings locally via nursery in the district. We are on to it and will be concluded soon."

The Agriculture Department is planning to take steps to help the farmers who are switching over to strawberries as a cash crop. As per an Agriculture Department official, 20,000 saplings can be planted in a bigha of land. A bigha of land generally produces 50 quintal of berries. Preferred organic farming increases the shelf life of the berries.

The cost for farming one kilogram of the berries is about Rs 200 but fetches Rs 400 per kilogram when sold in the market. The investment over land measuring one acre is around Rs. One lakh and the return is between seven to eight lakh.

Nowadays the farmers of Bihar are buying the saplings from Punjab and Mahabaleshwar in Maharashtra. They are hopeful they will be able to grow them in Bihar itself soon. Strawberries are in great demand in the markets in Patna, Bokaro and Kolkata and Mehta did not have any
problem selling his berries there.

The berries are eaten raw as fruit. Ice creams are also flavoured with it. They are also in great demand for making tinned juice. Strawberries are rich in anti-oxidants, Vitamin B and C, beta carotene, calcium and potassium. They increase immunity and help in maintaining blood pressure. /BI/