Overview of The Grape Industry in India

Nearly 30 varieties of grapes are cultivated in India.

 
Fresh fruits, which include
grape, have been identified by the
Ministry of Commerce, The Government
of India, as one of the extreme focus
segments for export from India.

 
Principal commercial varieties are Thompson Seedless and its clones, Tas-e-
Ganesh and Sonaka Seedless, Sharad Seedless (Black Seedless), Flame
Seedless (Red Seedless). Thompson Seedless and its derivatives like Sonaka,
Tas-A-Ganesh are popular in
Maharashtra, Northern Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh regions.
 

Indian Harvests:
Grapes can be harvested in India at such as time when no
grapes are harvested anywhere in the world by virtue of
double pruning and the scope to stagger the fruit pruning in
the tropical region of the country. Approximately 90% of the
area under grapes is the tropical region of the country, where
vines are pruned twice. Fruit pruning is done from July to
December to harvest the crop during December-June.
The time of harvesting grapes can be adjusted to catch the
changing period of demand in the middle East countries by
suitably adjusting the fruit pruning. Similarly by pruning the
vines in November, the crop can be harvested in April to catch
the demand in May in European markets.
 
Availability of required manpower for
various operations involved in the
production, harvest, and packaging
of grapes for exports is also a
strengths in India.

 
Technology for the production of EEC Class-I table grapes
is available in India. Grapes meeting the quality standards
for peninsular India in varying quantities ranging from
2 to 15 tonnes per hac.
 

Thompson Seedless Grapes:

 
These grapes are seedless,
sweet-tart, and crunchy.

Thomson Seedless account

for the bulk of Table Grape
exports from India.

Availability: Mid Jan - Mid April

Sonaka Seedless Grapes:

 
Sonaka Seedless is a Bud-sport of Thompson Seedless grapes with elongated
 berries. After Thompson Grapes these account for the second largest (Bulk wise)
grape variety exports from India.

Availability: Mid Jan - Mid April

 

Black Seedless Grapes:

 
These grapes are seedless,
Black and make very good
Table and Wine Grapes.

Availability: January & February

Flame Seedless Grapes:

 
Red Flame Seedless Grapes,
are the result of a cross between
Thompson, Cardinal and other grape
varieties.

Flame grapes are one of the

most popular varieties along
with Thompson grapes.

These grapes are seedless,

sweet-tart, and crunchy.

Availability: January & February

Harvesting:
 
 Harvesting is done in the early hours of
the morning when ambient
temperatures are low.
Bunches of grapes are carefully placed
in a single layer in crates and are kept
in the shade.
 

Grading:

Removal of unwanted berries, watered, small berries and

grading bunches as per size and colour are undertaken.
 

Pic: Grading.
Those falling short
of preset
parameters and
standards are
discarded.

Packing:

The grapes are packed in corrugated boxes under supervised

and hygenic conditions at the farm itself and are then
transported to societies.
 
Pic:
SO2 Pads inserted in the carton
help in keeping the grapes free
from storage fungus.
.

Pic: Corrugated Boxes used to

pack grapes.

 
 

Transportation to Societies:

Packed boxes are transported to the Member societies in

Covered vehicles (Refridgerated / Ordinary) for
pre-cooling treatment.
 
Pic:
The Infrastructure at one of the
member societies.

 
Pre-cooling:
 
Grapes are pre-cooled to 2 degrees
C to prolong it's shelf life from 60
days to 90 days. Each of our
member societies are provided with
a pre-cooling unit.
 
Pic: Grapes Precooled by forced-air cooling method.
 

Cold Storage:
 
Pre-cooled grapes are then
packed in corrugated boxes in
4.5/5/9 kgs and kept in cold
storage. Boxes are specially
designed
with perforations to allow cool air
to pass through. The boxes are
palletized to facilitate easy
handling.
 
 

Container filling:

The 40ft. reefer containers are pre-cooled to 2 degrees C

and then are filled with the packed produce under supervision
of an Central Excise & Customs supervisor.
 

Pic:
40ft Reefer Container
filled with Pre-cooled
grapes leaving for the port.

Sealing of containers:

Containers are then sealed at site by the Central Excise

Inspector / Superintendent.
 

.
Exports:
 
Thereafter, the boxes containing
the grapes are stuffed in the
container. Prior to stuffing the
conditions of the grapes are
checked by surveyors appointed
by the shipping companies. The
container is then sealed by Central
Excise and Customs Inspector.
 
 Dispatch to destinations:
 
The filled containers are then
transported and shipped to
various destinations as per the
directives of Mahagrapes.

Our Committment to Quality:

Quality is of prime importance.

 
A bunch of grapes which
does not meet quality specifications is
rejected and then sold in domestic
markets only. Checks include
measuring Berry Size, Brix (Sugar
level), Colour,
free of spray deposit and heavy
soiling, removal of water berries,
small uneven and infected berries.

 
 

Quality of grown grapes:

Quality of grapes is ensured through the proper application

of fertilizers, pest control and other specified cultivation
practices. It is also ensured that the EC prohibition directive
list relating to certain mercuric compounds, organo-chlorine
compounds and other compounds are strictly adhered to.
 

QC officers take care to ensure

that a medium sized cluster of
uniform grapes, large sized
berries with characteristic colour,
flavour, sugar / acid ratio are
maintained.

Picture : Picture of grapes in

Mahagrapes carton, A picture
of Quality.

Suppy scheduling for Member Societies:

Mahagrapes plans and helps implement pruning schedules in

October-November so that grapes can be obtained at the
time when they are required by different countries. Thus,
maintaining our committment to delivery schedules.
 
 

Training and education of staff and growers:

Mahagrapes undertakes training to the

growers at the vineyards about various
aspects of production of grapes like
girdling, thinning, application of
measured amounts of gibberellic acid
and fertilizers, irrigation, scheduling
and application of pesticides at regular
intervals.
 

Grading:

Removal of unwanted berries, watered, small berries and

grading bunches as per size and colour are undertaken. Those
falling short of preset parameters and standards are discarded.
 

 
Berries being checked for temperature with a temperature
checking device (Marathon)
 

Quality check and Supervision:

Strict supervision at the time of grading & packing to maintain

required quality parameters is done. Various instruments are
used to test the sweetness (Sugar content) and quality of the
produce using specially imported measuring devices like
temperature probes and refractometer.
 
Pic:
Imported testers like the
Refractometer & Temperature
checking devices used to
test the quality of the produce.