§1What this business is
Strawberry is a short-duration fruit crop for temperate and some sub-tropical areas, grown on sandy loam to loamy soil of pH 5.7-6.5. Runner plants are set in September-October in the hills, mulched, and watered little and often by drip. Fruit is picked every second or third day in the morning when half to three-fourths of the skin has coloured, then graded and packed in perforated cartons. The same planting gives fruit up to the 3rd year and is then replanted. The fruit is highly perishable, so the farm must be close to a market or a cold chain.
Capacity: 1 acre. The report costs 25,000 runner plants (its spacing section says 22,000 plants an acre at 30 cm × 30 cm). Yield 8 tonnes an acre a year with good management.
§2Is it right for you?
Who it is for
A farmer in a cool hill or foothill area close to a city market, with labour on hand for frequent picking.
Who it is not for
Hot plains far from a market, or anyone without cold transport for a soft fruit.
Advantages
- Fruit comes within the first season — no long wait as with tree orchards
- Fast payback of 2.31 years in the model
- Trickle irrigation saves about 30% water and energy
- Some varieties suit ice-cream and processing buyers
Drawbacks
- Half the outlay, ₹2,00,000, goes into planting material alone
- Fruit lasts only days and needs pre-cooling at 4°C within 2 hours for distant markets
- Picking every second or third day needs steady labour
- The field has to be replanted after the 3rd year
Skills you need
- Raising and planting healthy runner plants on time
- Light, frequent drip irrigation without over-watering
- Mulching and weed control
- Careful picking, grading and packing of a soft fruit
Why difficulty 3/5: Quick crop, but a costly start and a very perishable fruit that must be sold within days.
§3Market
Who buys
- Village-level trade agents
- Commission agents at the fruit mandi
- Ice-cream makers and fruit processors
How it sells
- Good fruit in perforated cardboard cartons with paper cuttings; lower grades in baskets
- Pre-cooled fruit sent in refrigerated vans to distant markets
- Truck transport from the farm to the market
Good to know
- Varieties grown in India include Chandler, Tioga, Torrey, Selva, Belrubi, Fern and Pajaro.
- For distant markets the fruit is pre-cooled at 4°C within 2 hours of picking and kept at that temperature.
§4Raw material & machinery
| Item | Qty | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Tube-well with submersible pump | 1 | ₹50,000 |
| Drip irrigation with fertigation system | 1 | ₹40,000 |
| Farm equipment and implements | — | ₹5,000 |
| Store and pump house (100 sq ft at ₹200 a sq ft) | 1 | ₹20,000 |
| Labour shed (100 sq ft at ₹100 a sq ft) | 1 | ₹10,000 |
| Barbed-wire fencing and gates (846 running ft at ₹35) | — | ₹29,600 |
From: National Horticulture Board model bankable project — Strawberry
- Strawberry runner plants25,000 plants at ₹8 a plant = ₹2,00,000
- Fertilisers and pesticides₹11,000 at planting
- Mulching material₹12,400 an acre
From: National Horticulture Board model bankable project — Strawberry
§5Licences & registration
- No licence is needed to grow the crop on your own farm land
- Land ownership or lease papers for the bank loan and subsidy file
- FSSAI registration if you sell packed produce under your own name
- APEDA registration and a phytosanitary certificate if you export
Start it in your state
Pick your state: today’s cost, central + state subsidy, raw material, land and help, on one page.
§6Schemes & subsidies
The model funds the project as farmer's share ₹2,00,000 (50%), capital subsidy ₹80,000 (20%) and term loan ₹1,20,000 (30%). Under NHB's current rules, open-field horticulture gets a 35% back-ended subsidy (45% in North-East, Himalayan and scheduled areas) only on projects above 2 hectares that carry a bank term loan, and land cost is not counted. A one-acre plot qualifies only as part of a larger project.
§7Money
How the investment is worked out: One-acre model: land levelling ₹4,000 + fencing ₹29,600 + store and pump house ₹20,000 + labour shed ₹10,000 + tube-well with submersible pump ₹50,000 + drip irrigation with fertigation ₹40,000 + implements ₹5,000 + cultivation ₹2,41,400 (planting material ₹2,00,000, fertilisers and pesticides ₹11,000, mulching ₹12,400, labour ₹14,400, power ₹3,600) = ₹4,00,000. Land cost is not included.
Working capital: Yearly running cost is about ₹1,35,300, of which harvesting and transport take ₹1,12,400. Planting material is the largest single cost at ₹2,00,000 and is needed again when the crop is replanted after the 3rd year.
Year not printed on the pages of this report; the other reports in the same NHB series are dated November–December 2005 and this one also counts labour at ₹70 a day. Treat every price as about 20 years old.
§8Export potential
Confirm the HS code in the DGFT ITC(HS) lookup before you export
Export council / board: APEDA
- India exported 117.55 tonnes of fresh strawberries worth ₹12.74 lakh in 2001-02; Bangladesh took 110.50 tonnes (APEDA figures quoted in the report).
- Other destinations named: Austria, Germany, Jordan and the USA.
§9Risks — where people fail
- Over-watering bringing Botrytis rot (grey mould)
- Albinism — fruit that stays pale and sour
- White grubs and cutworms in the field
- Losing fruit when the buyer or transport is delayed
§1030 / 60 / 90-day plan
A general plan that applies to any business. A plan for this business will be added after research.
- Days 1–30: Visit a working strawberry farming unit, ask 10 buyers about price and quantity, and get quotations from 3 suppliers.
- Days 31–60: Udyam and the licences you need (No licence is needed to grow the crop on your own farm land, Land ownership or lease papers for the bank loan and subsidy file), a project report (DPR), and the scheme or loan file.
- Days 61–90: Space and machines, trial production, and first deliveries to 10 customers.
§11Who to connect with
§12Watch
There is no episode on this business yet. Shows are coming soon on the Podcast page.
Want to start Strawberry Farming?
DPR, loan file or registration — ask us on WhatsApp.
¶Sources
Data review: 6 October 2026. Spotted a mistake? Report it. For information only — not legal or financial advice.