After exporting mangoes to Germany last year, Andhra Pradesh is all set to take another leap by exporting lady’s finger to Europe. The first batch would be dispatched from Nuzvid in the district to Frankfurt on Friday to be marketed as ‘Amaravati Greens’.
Two farmers, Shiva Kumar Raju from the Vizianagaram district and G. Indeevar from the Prakasam district, cultivated the exportable varieties in 10 acres each. The samples were sent for tests at the Vimta Labs in Pune and were found to be free from pesticide residues, which qualifies for export to Europe.
Horticulture Commissioner Chiranjiv Choudhary told The Hindu the harvested crop would be graded at the Nuzvid Pack House. The European countries look for the vegetable with a size less than 10 cm. The graded and precooled bhendi would be packed in 5 kg boxes. The consignment would be sent from Hyderabad and would reach Frankfurt on Saturday (Indian time) and hit the market a day after, he said.
While the Prakasam farmer harvested about 760 kg, the Vizianagaram farmer harvested 600 kg. Of this, about a ton would be exportable. The remaining would be sold in local markets and super bazaars. The price in the local market hovers between ₹20 and ₹25 a kg. The exporter is paying ₹3 more per kg. The farmers cultivated the Namdhari and the Radhika varieties. The yield would be around 20 to 30 ton in three months.
