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Supply Chain of Pomegranate and Its Value Addition: Impact of Improved Variety Bhagwa

Pratibha Tewari^*, Vijay Avinashilingam  

ICAR-CAZRI, Jodhpur-342003, India

Received Date: January 22, 2020; Accepted Date: February 03, 2020; Published Date: February 13, 2020
^*Corresponding author: Pratibha Tewari, ICAR-CAZRI, Jodhpur-342003, India. Tel: +919468815537;
Email: Pratibhatewari1@gmail.com/Pratibha.Tiwari@icar.gov.in

Citation: Tewari P, Avinashilingam V (2020) Supply Chain of Pomegranate and Its Value Addition: Impact of Improved Variety Bhagwa. Adv Agri Harti and Ento: AAHE-111.

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Introduction
       Pomegranate is believed to be native to Iran, from where it travelled by land route, between 3500-2000 BC in eastward direction, crossing erstwhile Indian subcontinent covering Afghanistan, Pakistan, Northern Himalayas (India) up to China. It travelled during same time through land route towards west side up to Africa and by sea route to Europe. Medicinal value of pomegranate has given the fruit required impetus to transport it from its origin to rest of the world.

       The fruit is valued for its high remunerative returns under a wide range of climatically challenging cultivation conditions. Pomegranate can be grown with less water, tolerates high temperature variations and responds to high tech horticultural practices. It can be processed into variety of products besides, having fairly good export potential. Fruit  is exported from India to faraway countries like UAE, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Netherlands, Qatar, Iran, Kuwait as well as to nearby countries like Nepal and Bangladesh.

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Impact of Improved Variety Bhagwa on Area and Production in India                    

        Introduction of Bhagwa a high yielding and disease resistant variety, after 2003 has changed production scenario of pomegranate in India. The area under the crop has more than doubled in a short span of less than two decades. In 2010-11 the fruit was cultivated in 107 thousand hectare area which has now increased to 246 thousand hectares in 2018-19. In 2010-11 the total production of fruit was 7.43 lakh ones which has increased to four times 28.65 lakh ones in 2018-19 [1].

       The popularity of Bhagwa variety in 2016-17 can be witnessed through tremendous increase in pomegranate area under cultivation (122.91%), production (279.15%) productivity (70.12%) and export (382.17%) as compared to those of 2003-04.  Today more than one lakh families are earning livelihoods from this crop in India. The variety is soft seeded, bright red attractive rind and aril colour, the juice of fruit has sweet and mild acidic taste. The shine of rind enhances its market and export value. Weight of single fruit may cross 400 gms. Quality production of fruit has encouraged farmers to export the fruit to distant parts of world (Table 1).

Lecture delivered in training on Latest techniques in high density plantation of arid fruits, sponsored by MIDH, Himanchal Pradesh and organized at ICAR-CAZRI, Jodhpur  from 17-21December 2019.

Table 1: Varieties grown in major states of India.

Production of Pomegranate in India and Some Leading States 

       India is leading pomegranate producing country in world (28.65 lakh tonne in 2018-19 first advance estimates). Maharashtra produces approximately 18 lakh tonne (64%), followed by Gujarat approximately 4.6 lakh tonne (16%), Karnataka approximately 2.68 lakh tones (9.5%) , Andhra Pradesh approximately 1.4 lakh tonne(5%), Madhya Pradesh approximately 1.14 lakh tonne(4%). Rajasthan produces approximately 0.92 % of total national production of pomegranate. Himanchal Pradesh produces 3150 tonne of pomegranate fruit.

       Productivity of pomegranate (MT/Ha) is constantly rising since 2013-14, at present advance estimate shows productivity at 11.64 MT/Ha. State of Tamil Nadu has highest productivity (23.32 MT/Ha) followed by Gujarat (15.13 MT/Ha), Andhra Pradesh (14.76%), Telangana (13.33 MT/Ha) (Table 2) [2].

Table 2: Area, Production and Productivity of Pomegranate since 2010-11. 

       Area of pomegranate is constantly increasing in different states of India. Out of total area of pomegranate, Maharashtra owes 62 %, Gujarat 13 %, Karnataka 11.10%, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh 4%, Rajasthan 1.89% and Himachal Pradesh has 1.18% area share. (Table3). Production is expected to increase by ten times and export seven times in near future.

Table 3: State-wise   Area and Production of Pomegranate since 2015-16 to 2017-18, Area in ‘000Ha, Production in ‘000MT.

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Supply Chain Management, Catchment and Collection Centers of  Pomegranate 

        In Maharashtra state pomegranate are commercially cultivated in Solapur, Nashik, Ahmednagar and Pune districts. In Karnataka state it is mainly grown in Chitradurga, Bellary, Tumkur, Bijapur, Bagalkot districts. In Gujarat state it is cultivated in Kachchh, Banas kantha, and Mehsana districts. In Andhra Pradesh it is grown in Anantpur and Chittoor districts. The variety Ganesh and Bhagwa cultivated in Maharashtra are suitable for export purposes (Table4) [3].

Table 4: State-wise   collection and catchment area* 

         Two type of markets are revolving around the collection centers depending on quality of fruit. The wholesale export market works through service providers, whose job is to ascertain quality production and purchase the entire orchard from farmers before the crop is harvested. The first quality fruit is harvested, graded, cleaned and packed in different sizes of corrugated fiber boxes as per specification of the region or country. Collected fruit is exported through Mumbai and Kolkata ports to different countries (Table5).

Table 5: Country wise export of Pomegranate from India.

        The export market of pomegranate(HS Code:08109010)requires certification of specifications regarding pesticide residue level, end to end encryption of producer, exporter and destination country (Table6).Documents relating to exports relate to goods invoice, packing list and certificate of origin. Shipment related documents are mate receipts, shipping bill, bill of handing, airway/sea bill. Payment documents must carry letter of credit, bill of exchange. The quality documents must contain phytosanitary certificate, GLOBAL GAP certification, and health certificate. Documents relating to foreign exchange regulations, GR form, RBI documents, bank realization certificate. The various chain of events in export of pomegranate requires quality checks at

• Production
• Monitoring pesticide/fungicide application programme
• Inspection at farm level or final field survey
• Harvesting by clippers and cutting stem
• Transport to pack house
• Receipt of pack house
• Rejection of unwanted fruit
• Washing with disinfectant and then with clean water
• Removal of excess water
• Treatment with fungicide and wax
• Drying
• Sizing
• Grading for quality
• Nose cleaning
• Packing into Corrugated fiber boxes
• Precooling
• Pelletization
• Storage in cold store
• Container loading
• Transportation to port

Table 6: Export Specification for Pomegranate.

        The  second type of market is localized wholesale/ retail market operating mainly for domestic consumption,  fruit is collected and purchased in district Mandi, from where it is transported to bigger mandis through land routes to various parts of country mainly Delhi. The fruit that is coming to smaller mandi may be of Grade I/II/III quality sold at rates as per visual sensation (Figure 1).

Figure 1: General supply chain of pomegranate in India.

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Value Addition in Pomegranate
       Fresh produce availability for value addition is only 2-3% of the total produce of pomegranate, however scope do exist in this sector. Approximately 3-16% food worth a value of Rs. 92651/- corers is lost every year as wastage. Rajasthan’s post-harvest losses are to the tune of 0.20 million MT in fruits and 0.27 million MT in vegetables. Rajasthan has great scope for expansion of agro industries as only 857 factories are presently working. It engages 2.22% population of state’s employed persons. A very important contribution to processing ventures comes from unorganized house hold sector where food is cooked by women. Mothers and Grandmothers have made their daughters custodian of knowledge of cooking by rigorous home training. Therefore, a great scope exists for using this semi-skilled resource to become great entrepreneurs by economizing on reducing losses. If current domestic consumption and exports of fruits and vegetables is kept at constant even then scope exists for processing 0.18 MT of fruits and 0.22 MT of vegetables (Figure 2) [4].

Figure 2: Value chain of value added products of pomegranate.

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Conclusion
        Pomegranate is believed to be native to Iran, from where it travelled by land route, between 3500-2000 BC in eastward direction, crossing erstwhile Indian subcontinent covering Afghanistan, Pakistan, Northern Himalayas (India) up to China. Fruit  is exported from India to faraway countries like UAE, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Netherlands, Quatar, Iran, Kuwait as well as to nearby countries like Nepal and Bangladesh. In 2010-11 the fruit was cultivated in 107 thousand hectare area which has now increased to 246 thousand hectares in 2018-19. In 2010-11 the total production of fruit was 7.43 lakh tones which has increased to four times 28.65 lakh tones in 2018-19.The popularity of Bhagwa variety in 2016-17 can be witnessed through tremendous increase in pomegranate area under cultivation (122.91%), production (279.15%) productivity (70.12%) and export (382.17%) as compared to those of 2003-04.  Two types of markets are revolving around the collection centers depending on quality of fruit. The wholesale export market works through service providers, whose job is to ascertain quality production and purchase the entire orchard from farmers before the crop is harvested. The first quality fruit is harvested, graded, cleaned and packed in different sizes of corrugated fiber boxes as per specification of the region or country. The  second type of market is localized wholesale/ retail market operating mainly for domestic consumption,  fruit is collected and purchased in district Mandi, from where it is transported to bigger mandis through land routes to various parts of country mainly Delhi. Fresh produce availability for value addition is only 2-3% of the total produce of pomegranate, however scope do exist in this sector. Approximately 3-16% food worth a value of Rs. 92651/- crores is lost every year as wastage. A very important contribution to processing ventures comes from unorganized house hold sector where food is cooked by women. Mothers and Grandmothers have made their daughters custodian of knowledge of cooking by rigorous home training. Therefore, a great scope exists for using this semi-skilled resource to become great entrepreneurs by economizing on reducing losses. Pomegranate therefore is a potential fruit for livelihood security of farmers in India.

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References

1. Pratibha T, Tewari JC, Singh A, Pareek K, SharmaA et al. (2014) Pomegranate supply chain, ICAR-CAZRI, Jodhpur pp 1-6.
2. Horticulture statistics at a glance (2018) Horticulture statistics division, Ministry of Ag and Farmer’s welfare.pp 1-490.
3. Chandra R, Jadhav VT, Sharma J (2010) Global scenario of Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) culture with special reference to India. Fruit,Vegetable and Cereal science Technology .Invited review in Global Sc Books pp 2: 7-18.
4. Area and production of horticulture crops in India First advance estimates (2019), GoI.