BANGALORE: With more and more farmers opting for contract farming, the production and export of gherkin has more than tripled in the State during 2005-06.

The export from the State jumped from 56,581 tonnes in 2004-05 to 1.75 lakh tonnes in 2005-06. The target for 2006-07 has been set at 2.25 lakh tonnes.

Global demand for gherkin is about 19 lakh tonnes a year, and the supply from India is about four per cent of the demand. Karnataka exports about 90 per cent of the country's total exports.

The crop is popularly known as "pickling cucumber" or small cucumber among farmers. Approximately, 41,600 farmers are cultivating gherkin in the State on 41,000 acres of land. The crop, which was introduced in the country in 1990, became popular among small and marginal farmers of Tumkur, Bangalore Rural, Hassan, Kolar, Chitradurga, Dharwad and Bagalkot districts, according to B.A. Channappa Gowda, Managing Director, Karnataka State Agricultural Produce Processing Corporation (KAPPEC), Bangalore.

The produce has negligible domestic market and the cultivation is exclusively for exports. Major destinations for it are Europe, the U.S., Russia, France, Germany, Belgium, Ukraine, Estonia, Israel, China, Sri Lanka and Australia. There are 23 export-oriented units under gherkin in the State, mostly located in Bangalore, except two in Hassan, and one at Chintamani in Kolar district.

Income

The crop can be cultivated in small plots of even 0.25 acres to generate a net income of Rs. 10,000. It is a short duration crop and requires heavy dose of fertilisers. It has a harvest period of 45 days, making it a labour intensive crop.

The cost of cultivation works out to Rs. 20,597 an acre. Although the potential yield for the crop, obtained in some of major producing counties such as Mexico is 20 tonnes an acre, the yield in the State is about 13 tonnes. The yield was as low as three tonnes an acre in some areas due to inadequate irrigation, incidence of pest and diseases. The average yield worked out to 7.5 tonnes per acre (highest in Kolar 9 tonnes per acre and lowest in Tumkur 6.5 tonnes).

The gross income from cultivation of the crop ranged from Rs. 18,000 to Rs. 1.43 lakh an acre with an average of Rs. 60,000. Net income an acre ranged from Rs. 8,000 to Rs. 1 lakh with an average of Rs. 39,403. The average price is Rs. 8 a kg. "The smaller the gherkin the greater the price."

The average income was more than the average income obtained from other crops, according to officials of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD).

The NABARD, which conducted a sample survey of the crop in Hassan, Kolar, Tumkur and Chamarajanagar districts revealed that 36.7 per cent of farmers had cultivated the crop more than once during 2004-05.

Occupying only 16.4 per cent of the gross cropped area, the crop was able to generate more than 50 per cent of the farm family income. It generates a recurring employment of 160 person days per acre per crop.

Not notified

However, gherkin is not a notified crop in the State under the Rashtriya Krishi Bima Yojana. Insurance products may have to be designed for the exporters and to farmers for income risk.

Subsidy schemes of Department of Horticulture of the State and National Horticulture Board (NHB) envisage that the contract between the processor and farmers should be for three years.

The department/NHB need to examine this condition considering the contract period in case of gherkin is only for the crop duration, NABARD officials said.

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