Potential exotic fruits for Indian climate

Abstract

the Indian fruit market has always been a thriving one due to considerable share of diverse fruits of indigenous and exotic origin. with the westernisation of Indian society and the growing health conscious-customers, the demand for imported fruits has been increased in the country over the last couple of years. Interestingly, the demand for exotic fruits is not only witnessed in metro cities, but also in other cities of the country. Local fruit vendors in Indian cities selling pink dragon fruits, haired rambutan, creamy avocados, mangosteen, and more are not a rare sight today. In order to bring down the prices and enable consumers to relish the health benefits of exotic fruits, a lot of enterprising farmers are taking up the cultivation of these fruits in their backyard or farms to meet the new and growing demand. the geo-climatic condition of India offers an excellent scope for growing of different types of indigenous and exotic fruits. A wide range of exotic tropical, sub- tropical and temperate fruits such as avocado, dragon fruit, durian, kiwifruit, loquat, longan, mangosteen, passion fruit, persimmon, pulasan, rambutan etc. are grown in different regions of the country. these exotic fruits have immense potential to contribute location specific food production, as they are well adapted to existing and adverse environmental conditions. therefore, increased production of these crops will not only reduce the dependency of livelihood improvement and nutritional security on few fruits but also helps in diversification of agriculture besides catering multifarious human needs. these crops may also be providing many fold employment opportunities and agro based industries, packaging, storage, preservation, canning and product diversification. Therefore, expansion of area of exotic fruits through adoption of improved package of practices for cultivationis required to increase the fruit production in the country.