It was way back in 1977-78 that the burly Sikh farmers of Ganganagar took up the plantation of kinnow on an experimental basis following the import of some saplings from Pakistan. Slowly the kinnow plantation got the fancy of the farmers in the area which is well served with assured irrigation.

Last year kinnow orchards covered a total area of around 2000 hectares with Ganganagar alone accounting for 1,750 hectares. In the nearby Hanumangarh also the area covered is put at 250 hectares. More and more farmers are now taking up the kinnow plantation following the government's efforts to help them get a good price abroad in the countries like UK, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, and some Europeancountries. Though the scope is limited, the yield could go up, says PM Agarwal, director of agriculture.

This year the likely production of kinnow is put at around 40,000 tones, an all time record. The production ranges from 35 tonnes per hectare to 40 tonnes per hectare. In the domestic market too the demand of kinnow, a juicy fruit, is on the rise with the people in Mumbai, Pune and Ahmedabad getting familiar with its taste. In Rajasthan its sales have been on the rise.

At the orchard site the farmers are getting Rs 6 per kg of the export variety. According to NS Ranawat, assistant director of exports in the Rajasthan State Agriculture Marketing Board, the return to the farmers was quite adequate.

In fact the Ganganagar mandi has emerged a big one for the kinnow marketing with the growers from Punjab also sending their produce there. "We have developed the mandi in such a way that the growers are given all the facilities," says Ranawat. The Board had also introduced a scheme of giving incentive to theexporters if they exceeded the targets given to them, says Agarwal.

Time was when the farmers just threw away their almost entire production of kinnow on the roads in Ganganagar as there were only a limited buyers, recalls Agarwal. But now things have changed as the export market has been picking up. When the exports had been taken up for the first time during 1995-96, the total quantity was only 375 tonnes, informs Agarwal.

In addition to Rajasthan and Punjab, kinnow is also grown in Uttar Pradesh but the farmers there have yet to develop the fancy for the crop. The climate of Ganganagar is ideally suited and the water is also available there in plenty with the help of a well laid canal system. A waxing plant has also been set up in Ganganagar so as to enhance the life of the fruit. "The self-life of the fruit could be preserved for a month with the help of the waxing plant," says Ranawat.