Ahmedabad’s horticulture department has implemented salinity control p programmes, in a bid to curve a steep decline in the area’s fruit production.
According to the Times of India, the district’s area under fruit cultivation has fallen by 55 per cent since 2005.
Productivity of Ahmedabad’s fruit industry has fallen by 66 per cent over the corresponding time period.
The area grows a range of fruits, including lemons, bananas and mangos, but guava is what it is best known for.
The Times suggests guava production stood at 15 tonnes per cultivated ha in 2005 but that figure dropped to 14 tonnes per cultivated ha in 2012.
Ahmedabad has started receiving water from Narmada, in the hope of clearing build up of salinity in the district’s irrigation systems.
However, Ahmedabad’s declining production rates have not stopped Gujarat from becoming the third largest fruit producing state in India.
According to a report released by India’s central and state governments, Gujarat accounts for 10 per cent of the fruit produced in the country, placing it behind Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.
