Khammam :

To reduce dependency on cotton crop cultivation, the horticulture department is introducing and providing a 60 per cent subsidy on a new fruit crop Apple Ber (Jujube Berry), for the benefit of farmers in the district.

Horticulture department officials are planning to take up Apple Ber plantation in 50 acres on an experimental basis and will increase the cultivable area, based on farmers’ response. The fruit is in huge demand in the local market, and also in Hyderabad. At present, traders are importing Apple Ber from Maharashtra.

Assistant director of Horticulture department K Suryanarayana said Apple Ber plantation is a commercial crop and would benefit farmers. He added that some farmers have already planted 10 acres of the crop in Dammapet mandal of the district.

“We are encouraging farmers to cultivate Apple Ber fruit crop as it will offer more benefits than a cotton crop and consume less water,” he said.

The horticulture department is also encouraging farmers to grow vegetable crops, whose cultivation is going on in 3,000 acres in the district. The department is further aiming to cross the 10,000-acre mark by motivating farmers.

Horticulture officials are providing 50 pc subsidy on seeds to cultivate vegetables in the district, said AD Suryanarayana.

All about Apple Ber

Red soil suitable for cultivation, consumes less water Already being cultivated in outskirts of Hyderabad, Mahbubnagar, Medak, Warangal and is now being introduced in Khammam

Rs 1 to Rs 1.5 lakh is what farmers can earn from a single acre of the fruit by investing upto a maximum of Rs 60,000 160 saplings are needed for raising a plantation in an acre Rs 30 each is the price at which the horticulture department is distributing the plant for whereas it is being sold at Rs 70 to Rs 80 in the open market 20 years is the crop life of Apple Ber and it starts bearing fruit from the second year

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Telangana / by B Satyanarayana Reddy / May 21st, 2016