India’s avocado industry is expanding as growing consumer demand encourages farmers to move the fruit from a secondary plantation crop into commercial production. Domestic growers are increasing acreage, adopting imported varieties, and improving cultivation methods as they try to compete with imported avocados.
Industry participants estimate that India imports about 15,000 tonnes of avocados annually while producing roughly 8,000 to 9,000 tonnes domestically. The gap has created an opportunity for farmers, particularly in regions where traditional crops such as coffee and pepper have become more difficult to grow.
Farmers Expand Commercial Avocado Orchards
Cottanad Plantations in Kerala’s Wayanad district originally planted avocado trees to provide shade for coffee. The company now has about 40 acres dedicated to the crop and harvested between 10 and 15 tonnes last year, with plans to increase annual output to between 40 and 50 tonnes within several years.
Growers are also changing how orchards are managed. Cottanad has adopted raised beds, wider spacing, and new planting techniques after consulting South African specialists, partly because avocado roots are particularly susceptible to disease.
Other businesses are importing commercial cultivation methods. Indo-Israel Avocado Nursery founder Harshit Godha said his company has supplied about 18,000 avocado plants to Indian farmers since starting operations in 2021.
The nursery specializes in international varieties such as Hass and Pinkerton. Commercial orchards generally use grafted plants combining rootstock selected for local conditions with a fruit-producing variety, while careful pruning and compatible pollination varieties are needed to maintain reliable yields.
Researchers Develop Standard Indian Varieties
Indian researchers are also working to improve domestic avocado varieties. The ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticultural Research has developed standardized varieties including Arka Supreme and Arka Coorg Ravi to give farmers more consistent fruit quality and yields.
Arka Supreme is a regular-bearing variety producing oblong fruit with an average weight of about 367 to 428 grams. ICAR also lists Arka Coorg Ravi as a high-yielding variety with fruit weighing roughly 450 to 600 grams.
Standardization could help address one of the challenges facing the domestic market. Many existing Indian avocado trees were grown from seed, resulting in considerable differences in fruit size, texture, flavor, and overall quality.
Restaurants currently still rely heavily on imports for consistency. Hussain Shahzad, executive chef at Mumbai-based Hunger Inc. Hospitality, said locally grown fruit is improving but imported avocados currently offer more predictable size, texture, flavor, and ripening.
Farmers nevertheless see room for further expansion as demand rises. Improved planting material, technical guidance, and reliable markets could allow more Indian growers to replace imports while diversifying away from crops that have become less dependable under changing growing conditions.
Featured image credits: Pickpik
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