Harshit Godha, Founder, Indo-Israel Avocado, is pioneering commercial avocado cultivation in Bhopal, India using Israeli technology. Here he elucidates on the policy changes required to promote its farming in our country
Traditional crops have a saturated market in India with excess production. Government needs to look at new crops like avocado which can help farmers command a premium price.
Avocado is a superfood with immense health benefits. It has a higher demand than supply worldwide because its popularity is increasing exponentially on social media. Currently, India does not have commercial planting material for it like avocado rootstock seeds.
Price of imported Hass Avocado is 1500 ₹ per kg in the Indian retail market. If we produce the same plants in India and promote its farming through favourable policies, it would drastically bring down the price of the fruit and make it available to the general public and not just the elites. We can also export our produce to the international markets and process it into guacamole and avocado oil.
Adding avocado ‘seeds’ to the Plant Quarantine Order (2003)
The list of agriculture items allowed for import are specified in the Plant Quarantine Order (PQ Order) 2003. In that list, avocado ‘plants’ can be imported from Israel, South Africa, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mexico, New Zealand, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, USA, Australia, Chile, Columbia, Guatemala, Spain and the Caribbean.
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