What was once an arid land,now wears a bright orange hue. From Punjabs belt bordering Rajasthan Abohar in Ferozepur,Muktsar and Bhatinda to the northern district of Hoshiarpur,kinnows are now the best example of diversification to horticulture in Punjab. After canals irrigated their parched lands,citrus orchards dot the landscape of districts with favourable climatic range of extreme temperatures and less humidity. While kinnows of Hoshiarpur are juicier,those in Abohar are bigger. But irrespective of the size,they are all making millionaires out of farmers who are increasingly taking to horticulture in a state dominated by government-procured wheat and paddy. And its marketing too is getting more and more organised. Some like Vikram Ahuja,a young kinnow-grower of Fazilka,has a contractor to market kinnows in New Delhi while Tejwinder Aulakh of Kallarkhera village in Abohar is doing it himself. I see diversification as the only way to save the depleting water table of the state. But for farmers to shift from the paddy-wheat cycle,Punjab will have to look at water budgeting as horticulture and cotton also require timely irrigation. As of now,we get water only from May 15 to November 15. If possible,one irrigation each in months from December to March should also be provided if diversification has to happen, says Vikram,who sees immense possibilities in kinnows. Already selling at Rs 10 to Rs 12 per kg,higher than last years Rs 6 to Rs 8 per kg,they are expected to touch Rs 15 a kg when the fully-ripe ones arrive in the market. And even as the state is headed for a record production this year both the area under it and productivity have gone up traders fear no price fall due to glut. Punjabs kinnows are now reaching as far as southern states besides Mumbai and Kolkata,where they are exported by traders. I get Rs 50,000 to Rs 60,000 an acre from kinnows against Rs 25,000 to Rs 28,000 an acre from wheat-paddy. Though many sell it as early as November-December as juice demand is higher before severe winter sets in,I wait till January-end when the fruit is juicier and fetches better prices, says Aulakh. Punjab nodal officer (citrus) Gurkanwal Singh explains that the fruit-bearing is less every alternate year. Last year,it was around 3.5 lakh tonnes while this year the state is headed for a record production of 7.3 lakh tonnes. From 10 tonnes till past many years,the per-hectare productivity of kinnow has gone up to 15 tonnes in the last few years. This year,it is almost 19 tonnes per hectare and the area under the crop has also gone up by nearly 4,000 hectares though it is still short of the target of the horticulture department, he said. The government too has woken up to the wonder fruit,which is estimated to possess the highest content of limonene,a compound which has anti-cancer properties. For the first time,they would be procured by a state procurement agency to be processed at the two multi-crore juicing plants at Abohar and Hoshiarpur. The governments approach is three-pronged. First is to market it well. A team of Punjab Agro,which has been allotted Rs 1.5 crore to promote it,recently visited Hong Kong to explore the export potential of the fruit. In the domestic market,hoardings and commercials are being planned to popularise it. Secondly,the subsidy on corrugated boxes for packaging and transportation has been hiked to 25 per cent. And thirdly,the two plants of the Punjab Agro Juices Limited installed at a cost of Rs 80 crore will be run by a state agency to meet the demand of juice companies for kinnow concentrate.
