Munnar (Kerala), Feb 13: The State horticulture Mission, funded by the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, an initiative of the union ministry of agriculture, is ready to open a strawberry process plant here Fri, an official aforesaid.
K. Prathapan, mission director,Thursday that Munnar and its neighbourhood are home to 2 of the best kinds of strawberry – ‘Sweet Charlie’ and ‘Winter Dawn’ – and each are abundant sought-after product.
“The new works factory capability to method 2 tonnes of strawberry per hour. The mission has joined hands with local farmers who have turned 300 hectares of land into beautiful strawberry gardens,” said Prathapan.
He said the factory will provide direct jobs to 20 women from the state run women’s poverty alleviation programme Kudhumbhasree and there will be more than 1,000 indirect jobs.
The first quarter of every year is the peak production time for strawberries.
“During the off season, locally grown fruits such as apple, oranges, litchi and keenness fruit would be processed,” Lal Varghese, mission chairman.
Munnar could be a picturesque hill station 1,450 metres above water level in Idukki district, and gets an enormous range of tourists – each domestic and international – each year.
