The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : State farmers raise a toast to wine grapes

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Friday, Jul 11, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

State farmers raise a toast to wine grapes

Sharath S. Srivatsa

Wine Board warns farmers to make pre-agreements

‘Karnataka produces 30 lakh kg wine variety grapes, which will yield 19.68 lakh litres of wine’
Farmers prefer growing wine variety grapes because of low input costs

— A file photo

In demand: The wine grape variety which is currently the flavour with grape farmers in Karnataka.

BANGALORE: Saying cheers to wine, a number of farmers in Karnataka have switched from growing the table variety of grapes to the wine variety. The Wine Board has been receiving enquiries from farmers seeking help to migrate to the wine variety, and this trend is causing concern among the officials.

Their worry is that growers from Bagalkot, Bijapur, Belgaum, Gadag, Bellary and Gulbarga regions, who have easier access to wineries in Maharashtra, are increasingly growing the wine variety to supply to wineries outside the State, without entering into pre-agreements with the wineries.

“We are getting many enquiries from farmers who have shown interest in the wine variety. In future, if the wineries reach their capacities, it would be these farmers without a pre-agreement who would be affected,” Wine Board Managing Director Bellur Krishna told The Hindu.

Capacity

While the existing capacity of wineries in Karnataka is around 8 lakh litres, it is expected to reach around 20 lakh litres once another seven wineries, under construction, commence operations. Each acre under wine variety cultivation yields around 4.5 tonnes of grapes. At present, Dr. Krishna said, “Karnataka produces around 30 lakh kg of wine variety grapes, which would yield around 19.68 lakh litres of wine. With more farmers going for the wine variety without pre-agreement, supply would exceed demand, leaving farmers in the lurch.”

In Karnataka, wine variety grapes are being cultivated in around 700 acres, of which farmers in over 100 acres are cultivating without a pre-agreement. They are at present selling grapes to Nasik wineries.

Drawbacks

Unlike the table grapes variety, the wine variety cannot be sold in the open market, as it is not suitable to consume them directly. The fruits are very small and acidic in nature. Dr. Krishna said that backward linkages should be developed before popularising wine variety grapes among the farmers. A wine variety grower, Valmiki Wadekar from Bidar, said: “Many farmers in Bidar district have been growing wine variety without having a pre-agreement with the wineries. With good demand, these farmers have been transporting their produce to wineries in Nasik and Solapur. While we get Rs. 32.5 a kg, a grape grower in Maharashtra, who grows the produce in the vicinity of wineries gets Rs. 40 a kg,” he added.

The preference towards wine variety is the low input costs when compared to the table variety, and it is more suitable for organic farming.

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