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Mahabaleshwar strawberry festival attracts fruit lovers
by Shivaji
Mahabaleshwar
(Maharashtra): The annual two-day Strawberry festival
held in Mahabaleshwar, a hill station in Maharashtra,
on March 20-21 was a big draw. A stream of tourists
from across India and abroad made a beeline to relish
the orchard's fresh strawberry and its products. Mahabaleshwar
region is the largest producer of strawberry in India.
The first timers regretted on not being aware about
the strawberry festival all these years. But they
promised to visit here again every year during this
time. "I did not know about such kinds of festivals
and if these are going to take place every year, I
am going to come here annually and eat these strawberries.
They are extremely rich in taste and very delicious,"
said Manoj, one tourist. The objective was to invite
tourists to taste the farm fresh strawberries and
also promote the fruit as a healthy nutrient. "This
is the last spell of Strawberry Festival and this
festival has been celebrated to attract the tourists,"
said Nikunj Vohra, a Manager with Mapro Strawberry
Farm at the Strawberry festival. The production of
the fruit has been increasingly encouraging. It is
also exported to various countries. "Presently, 1,350
farmers have been cultivating the fruit in 34 villages
in Mahabaleshwar who have produced 13,000 metric tonnes.
We export the frozen strawberries to Belgium, France,
Sri Lanka and Australia. Moreover, with the coming
up of the Malls and corporate sector, it has benefited
us as well as the farmers," said Bakasaheb Bhilare,
a strawberry grower. The festival was organised by
farmers in association with Mapro Company that owns
strawberry farms and also manufactures ice creams.
Mahabaleshwar is a municipal council of State's Satara
District. It is a hill station located in the Western
Ghats range. With one of the few evergreen forests
of the world, it served as the summer capital of Bombay
province during the British Raj. Located about 120
kilometers southwest of Pune and 285 km from Mumbai,
Mahabaleshwar is a vast plateau measuring 150 kilometres.
-Mar 24,
2008
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