Vol. 10, Special Issue 12 (2021)

Author(s):
Wasim H Raja, Mihin Noomphy, Gamter Bam, Sajad UN Nabi, OC Sharma, JI Mir, M Abbas Shah and Madhu GS

Abstract:
In north-eastern states in general and Arunachal Pradesh in particular, kiwifruit has a bright prospects. Kiwifruit has been assessed as one of the important future profitable fruit crops in mid hills of Himalayas. Since it provides a high return per unit area and the farmers can earn about Rs. 4 to 5 lakhs per hectare annually. As per the economic Survey of Arunachal Pradesh 2016-17 reports, 3379 ha of land under kiwi producing 6047 tons of fresh fruit production. Arunachal Pradesh contributes more than 50% to the total kiwi production in the country. Despite having huge potential of kiwifruit in the region, the various limitations faced by the farmer are the non-availability of quality planting material, skilled labours, lack of awareness regarding its cultural practices and management especially training and pruning as well as pollination management. Consequently, the kiwifruit produced in Arunachal Pradesh is of small size with inferior quality and thus is not able to compete with the kiwi imported from New Zealand, Australia, Italy, and other countries. Marketing is also the main obstacle due to the non-availability of cold storage and processing unit and other infrastructure for the promotion of the kiwifruit in the region.