Figs, guavas, custard apples – fresh or preserved into jam – from the Purandar orchards on the rolling hills of Pune find ready customers in big cities and abroad, leveraging the income of farmers.
At six in the morning award-winning farmer Samil Ingale hurries out, carrying the freshly picked fruits of his labour to the Purandar Highlands Farmers Producers Company (PHFPC) collection centre in Pune.
Speed is crucial for the survival of his crates of figs that he grows on a sprawling orchard in Singhapur village.
It’s not hard to figure out: the plucked fruits are highly perishable and have a short shelf-life.
Branded ‘Super Figs,’ the produce from Ingale’s farm and several others in this land of rolling Western Ghats hills are high in demand.
“We send figs to seven states. These are available on e-commerce sites too,” said Rohan Ursal, the chairman of PHFPC.
Cartloads are sent to Delhi, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, Cochin and Hyderabad. Some even land on the fruit aisles of supermarkets abroad.
So the obvious question is: why are Purandar’s figs considered a premium product?
Historical records show figs were commercially cultivated in 1904 at Jadhavwadi in Dive village of Purandar tehsil.
This fig variety gained recognition and became popular in the 1920s. It acquired a geographical indication (GI) tag in 2016 and was recently honoured with a special cover by the India Post.
Figs are grown on around 600 hectares in Purandar and about 4,300 tonnes of fresh fruits are produced each year.
The unique size, shape, skin colour and pulpiness of the bell-shaped Purandar fig are attributed to its agro-climatic conditions.
The best figs come from arid or semi-arid areas that get plenty of sunshine and have good irrigation. Sunny Purandar with orchards pumping water from deep wells fit the bill.
Rich in calcium and potassium, figs have been a favourite for centuries all over the world.
The Mayan and Incas of Latin America savoured it, as did the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, the Chinese of yore, the Indus Valley tribes, and the Sumerians, who made an intoxicating smoothie out of it.
Today there are boundless recipes for the fruit – used in everything from salads and pasta dishes, to cakes, ice cream and smoothies.
In India figs, or anjeer, are preferred in their sun-dried form, though fig jams and jellies are growing in popularity too.
Figs ripen twice a year: May to June and December to January.
Fruits from the rainy season are moderately sweet and not pretty. But these are in great demand as other fruits are not available during the kharif (monsoon) season.
The spring-summer harvest is of top quality and fetches more money.
We devised a polypropylene-based laser-perforated packaging solution that increases the shelf-life of Purandar figs by 21 days.
Orchard owners have long struggled to ship their produce to lucrative markets in the metros and abroad because figs lose their quality within hours of picking.
This has been tackled with a unique packaging method.
“We were approached by the fig growers. We devised a polypropylene-based laser-perforated packaging solution that increases the shelf-life of Purandar figs by 21 days post-harvest when stored at a stipulated temperature,” said Ketan Wagh of Haitech Solutions, the India representative of Israel-based Stepac.
That opened new markets for Purandar figs.
In July PHFPC exported two consignments to Hamburg and Rotterdam, with support by the Maharashtra State Agriculture Marketing Board (MSAMB).
The farmer-producer company is looking at full-fledged exports to Europe later this year. It has its eyes on the Pan-Asian market too, besides tapping the domestic market at full tilt.
“Our figs will be competing with those coming from South Africa and Brazil as their season corresponds with ours,” said PHFPC chairman Ursal. “To encourage exports, we have to work with growers and ensure they adhere to the right agricultural practices.”
Orchard owner Ingale, who was with the railways before traded the green flag for his green thumb, isn’t reliant solely on the income from his figs.
“We also grow custard apples and guava. We have introduced a sustainable method of cultivation to make our produce free of harmful chemical residue and export-ready,” said the farmer who is a director at PHFPC.
The company was established in 2021 and has 260-odd members from six villages of Purandar.
“We also make fig and guava bread spreads made from the Purandar fig and Ratnadeep guava,” said Ursal.
The Ranadeep guava has a distinctive bright pink flesh and is as famous as its figs.
Pune’s Kayani Bakery, popular for its Shrewsbury biscuits, uses only this variety for its eggless guava cake.
“We approached Rustom Kayani and he baked a red guava cake. It was a proud moment for us as he named it Purandar Guava Eggless Cake,” Ursal said.
In whichever form – fresh fruit, cake, or jam, jellies, preserves in mason jars – Purandar’s guava retains its aroma and taste.
Next in line from Purandar’s jam factory: jamun, mango and white guava.
What sets Purandar apart is its multi-pronged sales strategy, selling fresh fruits and processed items like jams and jellies.
The farmer-producer company has also introduced global agricultural practices (GAP) that will reduce the risk of microbial contamination related to food-borne illnesses, said Suraj Jadhav, the agriculture officer for Purandar taluka.
PHFPC has tied up with Bayer Crop Sciences to introduce GAP, a certification system that includes worker hygiene and health, manure use and water quality throughout the production and harvesting process. This ensures the products are safe and wholesome.
“We are assisting farms to be sustainable, with plants that are more adaptive and resilient. We guide farmers on soil preparation, storage, pest management, beekeeping to encourage better pollination, worker health and so on,” said Ganesh Salunkhe, food value chain manager at Bayer.
The lead image at the top shows freshly harvested figs front the Purandar highlands (Photo by Hiren Kumar Bose)
Hiren Kumar Bose is a journalist based in Thane, Maharashtra. He doubles up as a weekend farmer.
