Tropical Exotica: Kerala's new bumper harvest

Time of India

21-07-2025

Kochi/Kottayam: Rambutan trees, blanketed by large red-coloured nets that were once used for fishing, welcome visitors as one enters Thottapuzhassery village in Pathanamthitta district.
Almost every house here has either a Rambutan or some exotic fruit trees enmeshed with nets around their branches so that birds and pests do not peck into the ripe fruits. Though it has been raining heavily, the plucking of fruits has not stopped, catering to the huge demand of the booming exotic fruit markets of Kerala and abroad.
Gone are the days when fruits like Avocado and Dragon Fruit used to come from tropical South Asian and South American countries to be sold exclusively in malls and hypermarkets of Kerala.
Today, these exotic fruits are cultivated locally and get sold out quickly even in the neighbourhood retail vegetable stores. This shift in farming that is occurring in midlands and highlands of Kerala is mainly due to the fall in rubber prices added to the high labour cost for tapping rubber.
The farmers who had earlier prospered on the rubber boom of the late 80s and early 90s are now turning towards exotic fruit farming which have become more profitable, and some say, more enriching to the soul.
"Although they are earning well, they are also providing the community with nutritious fruits which is a great health service," said village agricultural officer Latha Mary Thomas.
Thottappuzhassery village is a model for exotic fruit farming for the state, mainly because of a combined effort from the state agricultural department and a farmers' collective in the village known as Samridhi Karshaka Sangham. The Sangham has now launched an initiative to convert the entire village into a 'Fruit Gramam'.
They are receiving active support from the agricultural, tourism and industries departments for this initiative.
"It all started with 11 farmers who foresaw the profitability and scope of growing exotic fruit trees like Rambutan, Avocado, Durian, Milk Fruit, Mangosteen and Langsat," said Thomas. The local Krishi Bhavan is promoting farm tourism and distributing saplings to the residents. "The panchayat too is supporting in a big way and they approved Rs 2.5 lakh this time for buying saplings," she said.
The farmers are mostly retired people, some returning to their native place after a long stint abroad. However, there are also people like Philip Kurien, who gave up his lucrative job abroad and began farming exotic fruits on his ancestral property in the village. Tracing the history of exotic fruit farming in the village, Philip says it all began years ago, even before people started going to the Middle East. "People used to bring seeds from Malaysia and Singapore and sow exotic fruit seeds in the backyards of their houses, though not on this large scale,'' says Philip, who gave up his job in logistics at Dubai airport to do farming.
The village is located on the banks of Pampa river and the soil here suits well for exotic fruit farming. Philip replaced his 4-acre rubber plantation adjacent to his house with mangosteen trees. He has around 150 trees now. Farmers say a fully matured Mangosteen tree gives 80-100kg of fruit a year, and ideally, the farmer should get around Rs 10,000 from one tree and a Rambutan tree will give 300-400kg of fruit and one kilogram costs around Rs 100.
Farmers say some fruits are exported while others are sold in major tourist destinations and even to resorts.
N V Varghese has around 1,000 dragon fruit plants on the farm adjacent to his house. After his wife passed away a few years back and his two daughters settled in the UK, the 75-year-old finds himself engaged with the farm where he even has rare fruit plants like Milk Fruit. "I started farming around five years ago after buying Dragon Fruit from the market.
I thought of doing organic farming of these fruits and started. Now it has turned into a very profitable one and keeps me engaged," he says.
The farmers' collective has decided to attract more farmers into the fold. They have also started making value-added products from these fruits like jams, squash, jelly, dried fruits, etc. Currently, they sell it through an eco-shop in the village. "The panchayat committee has formally approved the fruit gramam project.
A cluster of 130 farmers will be formed to improve the activities. There are 13 wards in the panchayat and 10 farmers from each ward will be included in this project.
We are ready to provide whatever funds are required for the project," panchayat president R Krishnakumar said. The panchayat has around 3,000 houses and 1,154ha of cultivable land.
However, a major contributor in pushing exotic fruit farming revolution in the state is Homegrown, which has a state-of-the-art infrastructure for high-quality planting material.
According to Homegrown MD Jose Jacob, the trend of exotic fruit farming began in the state around 10 years ago. "People started losing interest in cash crops due to various reasons, including the difficulty in getting labour. We produce two million plants every year.
We also have a nursery on a 110-acre land in Kanjirappally apart from model farms for each fruit," he said.
According to the survey conducted by Homegrown last year, the commercial production of Rambutan alone in the state in 2024 was 22,500 tonnes and the value of the commercial production was Rs 270 crore.
The study also revealed that there were around 6.5 lakh Rambutan plants under commercial farming in the state.
The Plantation Corporation of Kerala too started Rambutan farming in two of their rubber estates at Kodumon and Chandanappally, both in Pathanamthitta district. There are around 600 plants at Kodumon and 525 plants in Chandanappally. Like the small-time farmers, traders from Tamil Nadu buy these fruits in these estates too.
In the Idukki high ranges, around 150 farmers in Vattavada near Munnar are into Strawberry farming.
Subhash B, a farmer says the fruits grown here are sweeter and hence have got a premium quality and the farmers are resorting to direct marketing as Munnar is a tourist destination.
Govt intervention to support commercial farming through its initiatives of making Kerala a 'high value horticulture hub' has also given it a fillip.
Finance minister K N Balagopal in his budget speech this year had set aside Rs 30 crore under the Co-operative Initiative in Technology-driven Agriculture (CITA). As much as Rs 18.92 crore was provided for the development of fruits, flowers and medicinal plants focusing on increasing the production and productivity of indigenous and exotic high value fruits.
Kerala Agriculture University has set up a fruit garden where most of the exotic fruits that are being sold in nurseries are planted and tested.
"There are more than 20-25 exotic fruit varieties that can be cultivated in Kerala, because the climate is similar. Many of our fruits are seasonal, but when you have a spread of fruiting plants, you will get some fruit or other every time of the year," pomology and floriculture department head Jyothi Bhaskar said.
Agriculture officials said not all exotic fruits can be a commercial success. "There are various soil types in Kerala.
We must study how these exotic fruits respond to our soil types with respect to its growth. We follow these farmers and study its yield before we recommend it," said M A Sudheer Babu, senior soil survey officer, Thrissur.
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SOWING THE SEEDS OF FRUITFUL CHANGE
The soil and climate of Kerala, which is in the Indo-Malay biological zone, provide a perfect blend for growing some of the exotic fruits
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100-150cm
annual rainfall exotic fruit trees need
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They can be grown on surfaces up to 1,500M altitude
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Thrive in any kind of soil with good drainage & 5.5-6.5 pH range
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Largely cultivated by individuals in Idukki & Thrissur
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Dragon Fruit, Lychee, Kiwi, Avocado, Mangosteen are some of the commercially cultivated fruits, the saplings of which are sold mostly through nurseries
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$19.3bn
is the market size of exotic fruits expected to reach around this year in India
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Fruits cultivated under Mission for Integrated Devpt of Horticulture - 2023-24
(Read as crops, area in hectares)
Dragon Fruit (without integration) 34.24
Strawberry (with integration) 31.65
Banana 649.91
Pineapple 369.57
Papaya 14.36
Mango 24.60
Jackfruit 63.67
Avocado 24.77
Rambutan 102.24
Passion Fruit 18
Mangosteen 29.17
Garcinia 8.50
(Kerala Economic Review 2023-24)
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Fruits that suit our weather and palate and can be grown in homesteads
(Read as fruit, land of origin, nutritional value)
1. Mangosteen Southeast Asian islands Vit B2, B5
2. Avocado Americas Vit B, K
3. Dragon Fruit Central America Vit C, fibre
4. Pulasan Malay Peninsula Vit C
5. Longan Myanmar Vit C, Potassium,
6. Durian Southeast Asia (King of fruits) Sugar and fat
7. Abiu Amazon Vit C, A, Calcium, Phosphorus
8. Star apple or Milk fruit Panam, Mongolia Flavonoids and vitamin E, C, and A
9. Matoa Pacific, Southeast Asia Vit C, E
10. Israeli Fig Israel Vit A, C, K, Calcium, Potassium
11. Brazilian Mulberry Brazil Vit C, K, Potassium, iron
12. Tennis Ball Cherry USA Vit C
13. Sundrop fruit South America Vit C
14. Jabuticaba Brazil Vit E, C, iron
15. Miracle Fruit Africa Suppresses sourness and induces sweetness- pH dependent taste modifier
16. Maraba Caribbean, Central America Vit C
17. West Indian cherry Caribbean Vit C
18. Black Sapote or Soapapple Mexico, Central America Vit C, Calcium, A, iron
19. Rollinia Brazil Vit C, Calcium, Potassium
20. Surinam Cherry South America Vit C