El abordaje teórico del fenómeno: una mirada ecológica

Farmers incur a cost of around Rs 0.25 million in cultivating export quality grapes in a hectare. The productivity of export oriented farms is around 25-30MT/Ha, of which, about 15-17 MT produce is of export quality and the remaining produce is sold in domestic market. Farmers are paid Rs. 35-60 per kg of grape for export quality produce depending on the market. Average price for different grades and approximate quantity of each grade harvested from one Ha of vineyard is as given below;

Quality  Quantity produced per Ha  Price in Rs. per kg. 

Export Quality  15‐17 MT  35‐60 

Domestic Quality  7.5‐10MT  20‐30 

Loose Berries  2 MT  5‐6 

Farmers producing export quality grape have to obtain EurepGAP or Global GAP certification for their farms. The certificate is valid only for one year. For Global GAP, certification charges vary between Rs. 20000-25000 per farm, if taken individually, whereas, if certification is taken as a group of farmers together, charges of Rs. 5000-7000 per farm are levied.

Major varieties exported from the region are Thompson Seedless, Black Seedless, Flame Seedless and Sharad Seedless. Residue testing of random samples is being done to check if the pesticide residue is within the permissible limits. Samples are tested at Pesticide Residue Analysis Laboratory, which has been recently set up in Nashik by National Horticulture Research & Development Foundation (NHRDF). The laboratory has also been recognized by APEDA and accredited by NABL for residue analysis of all export oriented agricultural produce especially grapes, pomegranate, mango, onion and other such products. Till last year, samples were sent to Pune for residue testing. Charges of residue test are Rs. 5000-7000 per sample. Harvesting Losses  Rs 8.33  Rs 1.00  Rs 0.13  Rs 15.54  Rs 25.00  Transportation  Contract Price  Farmer’s Margin  Cost of Production 

Dependence of Growers of Processing Varieties on Wineries

Many farmers preferred to grow processing variety of grape as it is less labour intensive and pay more for fewer efforts. Due to slow down in wine industry, wineries are left with huge stocks of unsold wine. Hence, in the year 2007-08 and 2008-09, procurement of raw material was relatively low and many wineries did not buy the produce at the contract price.

It was informed during the field survey that some farmers got only Rs. 15 per Kg as against the contract price of Rs. 25 per Kg. Moreover, it could not be sold in the market for fresh consumption as the taste of processing varieties is not accepted by the consumer in the fresh market segment.

For export purpose, grape is harvested by the trader early in the morning, generally between 6:00 to 8:00 a.m. and the harvested produce is brought to the pack house by 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. Sorting, grading, packing and pre-cooling operations take about 10-12 hours and it is then stored in cold rooms, until full container load is processed. Temperature maintained during various operations of grapes is as follows:

Operation  Temperature (degree C) 

Pre‐cooling  0 

Storage  0‐1.5 

Grape is exported to European countries in 4.5, 5 and 9 Kg boxes. Plastic punnets or pouches are used as separators in the boxes. Each punnet or pouch contains 500 gram grapes each. As a standard practice, about 250 grams grape is packed extra per 5 kg so as to compensate for moisture loss during transit.

Grape is exported in refer containers by sea. The container takes 17-20 days to reach UK from Mumbai. Shelf life of grape is about 3 months, if processed properly. Sulphur pads are used between grape boxes to increase its shelf life. Boxes are palletized and loaded into the container at pack house. Each pallet contains 120 boxes of 5 kgs each and 20 such pallets are loaded in one container of 12 MT.

The containers are checked and sealed at the pack house and sent from Mumbai to JNPT Mumbai for export. Clearing & Forwarding Agents charge about Rs. 7000-8000 per container for paper work for excise and custom clearance. Freight from Nashik to JNPT Mumbai is between Rs. 18000-20000 per reefer container. Freight from JNPT, Mumbai to UK in 2009 was USD 2500. The cost break-up for exporting 1 kg of grape is

Item  Cost   Cost of procurement  Rs. 40 per kg  Packaging material*  Rs. 35‐40 per 5 kg box  Operational cost of pack house  Rs. 3‐3.5 per kg  Clearing & Forwarding  Rs. 7000‐8000 per container of 12 MT  Excise & Customs  Rs. 2000 per container   Phyto Sanitary Certification  Rs. 1000 per container   Terminal handling charges at JNPT  Rs. 16000‐17000 per container  Freight: Nashik‐Mumbai  Rs. 18000‐20000 per container  Freight: Mumbai‐UK  2500 USD per container  * packaging material include 3 ply CFB box @ Rs. 25‐28 per box and punnets or pouch, grape guard etc. Many  exporters are using imported boxes of 3 ply for export purpose, which cost Rs. 30 per box of 5 kg each, imported  from Italy or South Africa. Quality of imported boxes is reported to be better than Indian boxes. 

Average selling price of grapes in Europe is about GBP 7.5-10 per box of 5 kg. During Christmas season, grape prices are as high as GBP 14-20 per box of 5 kg in Europe and early varieties of grapes exported from India can fetch such returns.

Most of the corporate such as ITC, Mahindra and Deepak Fertilizers etc. are operating on margin basis. They charge 14-15% of the sale price as their margin and pay rest of the amount to the growers after deducting their all expenses. 25% of the expected sale price of produce is paid to the farmer in advance and rest is paid after sale proceed is realized. None of these companies have invested in infrastructure in the area. Existing pack houses are being taken on rent on per kg basis and used for processing of fresh grape.

There are about 138 grape exporters in Nashik area. Bhandari, N.D. Grapes, FreshTrop Fruits etc. are some of the big grape exporters from the region.

3.4 I

A

3.4.1 Post Harvest/Marketing Infrastructure 

Nashik is the leading grape exporting region in the country and exported about 1400 containers to Europe and Middle-East in 2007-08. About 150 exporters are operating in Nashik district most of them are into grape, onion and vegetables export and few of them export pomegranate as well.

Nashik has about 84 APEDA recognized pack houses, used mainly for export of grapes. Few of them are not in functional stage, particularly 2-3 pack houses that were established by cooperative societies. About 6-7 of these pack houses are owned by co-operatives and rest all are privately owned by the exporters. The pack houses are operational during grape season and remain idle during 6-8 months during the year. Some of these pack houses have their gensets for power back-up and many of them have taken connections on Express Feeder of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for assured power supply.

About 7-8 pack houses in Nashik area have big cold storage facilities i.e. 2000 MT or above, while others have only about 50-150 MT cold storage capacity. As per an estimate, pack houses in Nashik have a cumulative capacity to process 1000-1200 MT of grape per day (processing includes grading, packing, pre-cooling and storage).

Some cold stores are used for pomegranate, vegetables and raisins during off-season. Export of grape is a remunerative business and most of the pack house owners do not realize the need to utilize the facility for any other purpose to increase its viability. Some cold stores also stock the grape during peak supply and sell them into domestic market for about 2 months after the grape season is over.

About 16 new proposals for setting up of grape pack houses have been submitted to APEDA this year.

3.4.2 Institutional Infrastructure 

Maharashtra State Grape Growers Association, Grape exporters association and MahaGrapes are the three major institutions operating in the region.

Maharashtra State Grape Growers Association:  

The  association  was  registered  in  1960  and  since  then  it  is  working  to  provide  technical  support  to  growers  through  extension  services,  arranging  of  seminars  and  group  discussions,  importing  and  distributing  some  important inputs like Gibberellin etc. The association is headquartered in Pune and it has four divisional offices  in grape growing areas. One of its divisional offices is located in Nashik. 

The  association  has  25000  members  cultivating  grape  on  more  than  40000  hectare  of  land.  Of  these,  7500  farmers  are  from  Nashik  area.  The  association  has  a  nursery  for  quality  planting  material  and  testing  laboratories with facilities for testing of soil, water, petiole for better quality production. One such testing lab  has  recently  been  started  in  Nashik.  These  facilities  are  available  for  members  and  non‐members.  It  has  a  monthly  technical  magazine  “Draksha  Vrutta”  to  guide  the  farmers  and  keep  them  updated  with  the  latest  information in viticulture.  

Life  membership  fee  for  becoming  member  of  the  association  is  Rs.  665.  Differential  charges  are  levied  for  testing facilities from members and non‐members. For example; 

Soil test per sample: Rs. 276 for members and Rs. 436 for non‐members  Water test per sample: Rs. 168 for members and Rs. 226 for non‐members 

The association played an important role in formation of grower cooperative societies for marketing and exports of grape. These cooperative societies later formed MahaGrapes. The association has also taken lead in formation of Grape Growers Federation of India.

MahaGrapes:  

Mahagrapes  is  a  partnership  firm  of  16  farmers’  cooperative  societies.  It  was  established  in  January  1991.  Mahagrapes  assists  its  member  societies  in  marketing  of  produce  especially  in  international  markets  and  provide  market  information.  The  16  member  co‐operative  societies  have  almost  2500  farmers  as  their  members. Each member co‐operative society has a pack house with a pre‐cooling of 5 MT & 3 cold stores of 30  MT capacities each. Technology of these facilities was imported from California. Of the 16 member societies, 4  societies are from Nashik district, as mentioned below;  Baglan taluka grape growers co‐op.society ltd., Nashik   Mogi grape growers co‐op, society ltd., Nashik   Malta grape growers co‐op society, Nashik   Shriram grape growers co‐op society, Nashik  

Two of the above cooperative societies i.e. Mogi and Malta are almost non-functional now and the facilities are closed. Both the societies have a debt of about Rs. 35-40 lakhs. The main reason behind the failure of these societies is crop shift. Both the societies are located in Malegaon area of Nashik district, where grape has been replaced by pomegranate due to decreasing water resources and high operational cost and labour requirement of grape.

Grape Exporters Association:  

This  is  an  association  of  grape  exporters.  Major  activities  are  to  represent  exporters’  interest  at  APEDA,  importing countries etc.  Primary agricultural cooperative societies are the main source of credit for most of the grape farmers. Amount  of credit varies from crop to crop and landholding of the farmer. For grapes, the amount is as follows:   Grape (export): Rs. 90,000 per acre  Grape (domestic): Rs. 70,000 per acre  These crop loans are provided for a maximum period of one year. Rate of interest charged on these loans is 6%  per  annum.  Term  loans  are  also  provided  by  the  PACS  and  rate  of  interest  differs  in  that  case.  Term  loan  is  generally given for irrigation systems, tools, farm implements etc. Loans upto Rs 300,000 attract an interest of  12.5%. If the amount exceeds Rs 300,000, the rate of interest increases to 14.5%