A Bengaluru farmer has found an unconventional market for baby bottle gourds, growing the vegetable to a specific size for overseas buyers and supplying the produce to Qatar through brokers.
Farmer Karigowda, who owns a 3.5-acre farm in Karlapura Palya in Bengaluru Urban district, grows bottle gourds that weigh around 500 grams each. Unlike conventional bottle gourds, which are generally allowed to grow larger, his crop is harvested young to meet demand in overseas markets.
In an interview with 30Stades, Karigowda said he harvests around one tonne of baby bottle gourds a day during the September-to-December season and sells the produce at around ₹50 per kg.
At a daily harvest of about one tonne, the farmer’s reported sales work out to approximately ₹50,000 a day.
Karigowda explained, “At one tonne a day and ₹50 a kg, the value of a day’s harvest is around ₹50,000 or about ₹14 lakh to ₹15 lakh a month. Brokers collect the produce and export it to Qatar. Baby bottle gourds have been very rewarding financially.”
Over a 90-day harvesting period, this would translate into around ₹45 lakh in gross crop sales.
However, the ₹45 lakh figure represents gross revenue and not net profit. Expenses such as seeds, labour, fertilisers and other inputs, irrigation, cultivation, harvesting, packaging and other costs would need to be deducted to calculate the farmer’s actual earnings.
Karigowda said, “The arrival of technologies such as drip irrigation, mulching and improved farm machinery changed some of the possibilities. But I felt experimenting with different vegetable crops could improve revenues.”
He pointed out, “I use the Swikar 045 F1 bottle gourd variety.”
Farmer changes crop strategy to tap overseas demand
Karigowda comes from a family of farmers. His grandfather and father were also involved in agriculture, and he decided to continue farming after graduating.
The family traditionally cultivated crops such as maize, tomato and brinjal. However, getting the right price for farm produce was a persistent challenge.
This prompted Karigowda to look beyond conventional crops and explore produce with demand in markets outside India. He eventually chose baby bottle gourds after learning about their demand in overseas markets.
First harvest begins about 70 days after sowing
Karigowda’s bottle-gourd cultivation cycle generally begins around June and July. The first harvest starts approximately 70 days after sowing.
The crop is harvested while the gourds are still young and relatively small, with each weighing around 500 grams. The produce is then sold through brokers who connect the farmer with overseas buyers.
He said, “The first harvest begins after about 70 days from sowing, around September. The harvesting season then runs from September through December.”
The brokers purchase the gourds directly from the farm and handle their shipments to international markets. This arrangement allows Karigowda to concentrate on cultivation and meeting the specifications required by buyers without having to manage the export process himself.
Farmer also grows brinjal and tomato
Despite the success of baby bottle gourd, Karigowda does not depend entirely on a single crop.
He also cultivates brinjal and tomato, providing an additional source of income outside the bottle-gourd harvesting season.
His brinjal is sold in the Hosur market in Tamil Nadu, where he reportedly gets around ₹45 per kg.
The diversified cropping strategy helps the farmer spread his income across different crops and reduces his dependence on a single market or harvesting season.