In the Nashik district in the state of Maharashtra, the pruning activities have already begun in vineyards and the grape harvest season is expected to begin from the second half of December 2016.
Speaking to Times of India, Jagannath Khapre, president, Grape Exporters’ Association, said, “We had a very good grape season last year 2015-16 because of good weather conditions. Nashik had recorded an all-time high in export of grapes last year. We are expecting 20 per cent growth in grape exports in 2016-17 grape season.”
Nashik district recorded the highest ever export of 108,000 metric tonnes in the last grape season 2015-16, against 49,768 metric tonnes in 2014-15. Of the total 108,000 metric tonnes of grape exports, 75,000 metric tonnes of grapes were exported to European countries, while the rest of the 33,000 grapes were exported to non-European countries like Russia, Bangladesh, China, Dubai etc.
Meanwhile, grape-growers have started the registration of vineyards with the agriculture department of the state for the 2016-17 grape export season. The agriculture department has set a deadline of October 30 for the purpose. As per guidelines by Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) norms, it is mandatory for the grape exporters to register their vineyards for export.
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com