India’s strawberry production is concentrated in the mountainous Mahabaleshwar region of western India, which accounts for approximately 85% of the nation’s strawberry cultivation. The region’s altitude of over 1,000 meters provides ideal growing conditions with a cool season extending from November through March, along with well-drained soil suitable for strawberry farming. Despite these natural advantages, the industry faces significant challenges including weather-related crop losses and labor-intensive operations that make farming a financially risky endeavor.
Currently, Indian strawberry farmers depend entirely on plant varieties imported from overseas sources, including California, Florida, Italy, and Spain. Farmers purchase certified mother plants from international breeders, which must pass through government quarantine before being propagated in nurseries. Licensed propagators can generate multiple daughter plants from a single imported mother plant, with some advanced operations producing 30 to 40 plants per source. This reliance on foreign genetics means farmers must continue paying for imported varieties each season.
Research institutions are working to address this dependency. Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth, an agricultural university in Maharashtra, has partnered with the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre to develop India’s first indigenous strawberry cultivar using gamma irradiation to induce genetic mutations. Researchers aim to create a climate-resilient variety that maintains the size and texture qualities of foreign varieties while adapting to Indian climate conditions, though the development process may take 10 to 15 years. In the nearer term, the university is providing farmers with standardized practices for planting schedules, fertilizer recommendations, and growth regulator applications tailored to Mahabaleshwar conditions.
Meanwhile, some larger farming operations are adopting advanced cultivation technologies to mitigate weather-related losses. Hydroponic systems, which use controlled environments without soil, allow year-round production and precise management of water, nutrients, and temperature. Farmer producer organizations are implementing weather monitoring towers with artificial intelligence to optimize chemical application timing and installing vertical growing systems that can increase plant density by fivefold on the same land area. However, such technological investments remain largely inaccessible to smaller farming operations due to high costs and financial risks, leaving most farmers dependent on traditional methods and imported plant varieties.
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