Introduction:
Grape (Vitis vinifera) is grown in temperate to warm regions, however, hot and dry climate is ideal for its cultivation. Indian grapes come in varied characteristics namely colored, white, seeded, unseeded, large and small berries. Indian grapes are successfully grown at and above 250 mean sea levels.
A modern packhouse facility for grapes with an automatic forced air system is available in all the commercial production areas and the traceability system is maintained for product tracking. An extensive Residue Monitoring plan for pesticide residue monitoring in grapes is implemented for consumer safety.
Varieties: More than 20 varieties are under cultivation in India. However, only a dozen are commercially grown. They can be grouped under the following 4 categories, based on color and seeds- coloured seeded,
Coloured seedless, white seeded and white seedless.
Currently, Thompson Seedless is the ruling grape variety occupying 78.96% of the area with its clones. 2A-Clone occupies approximately 5% of the total area while Tas-e-Ganesh Sharad Seedless constitute 4.5% and 3.5% respectively in 2021. Thompson Seedless is the highest producing grapes exhibiting 79.12 per cent share in total Grape production (246631MT) in 2021 followed by Tas-e-Ganesh (4.93 per cent) and 2A-Clone (4.62 per cent) in the same year.
Production and Area:
Major grape-growing states are Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Mizoram. Maharashtra ranks first in terms of production accounting for more than 67 % of total production and the highest productivity in the country during 2023-24 (2nd Advance Estimate). Karnataka is the second largest producer of Grapes with a share of 28% in 2023-24 (2nd Advance Estimate). Grape is one of the important fruits occupying 2.5% of the total area of Fruits Production in 2023-24 (2nd Advance Estimate).
| Area under Cultivation in FY24’ (000ha) | |
| Grapes | 175.93 |
Exports:
The country is also a major exporter of Fresh Grapes to the world. The country has exported Grapes to the world during the year 2023-24 as is in below table.
| Export Volume FY24 (MT) | Exported in FY24 (USD Mil) | |
| Grapes | 343,982.34 | 417.07 |
Major Export Destinations (2023-24):
Netherland, U.K, United Arab Emts, Russiaand Bangladesh.