From Imphal To Shillong, Avocado Finds New Home In India¡¯s Northeast. Now, Sellers Eye Commercial Market

Avocado has its origin in southern Mexico, but far from it, the utterly buttery fruit is finding new converts in many parts of India¡¯s Northeast. Never in the soil of the region, with the exception of Sikkim, do people remember having planted or cultivated this ¡°foreign¡± fruit which is not quite foreign anymore.

About 100-200 fruits grow on one tree.

This nutrient-laden ¡°butter fruit¡± is addictive for its milky texture. And the kinds that grow in the Northeast are smaller in size as compared to those imported from overseas, and definitely richer in flavour.

One may associate avocados with guacamole, a popular avocado dip, but people in the Northeast prefer to have it with their staple rice.

They scoop it out into a bowl of steaming rice, gently mix it with hands and relish it. It is considered a meal in itself. Or, they serve as salads by dicing into pieces and salt to taste, and nibble that with friends and visitors. Sometimes, they just scoop out the fruit and enjoy the delicious ripe fruit sans any accompaniment.

¡°It tastes yummy just like that,¡± says Dimpi Neihsial, 46-year-old who runs a garment store in Teddim Road, lamka, a town in Churachandpur district of Manipur.

Neihsial became an overnight avocado connoisseur after she first tasted the fruit a few years ago. So, trust her when she shares her trick on how to gradually ripen the raw fruit.

¡°Bury it in the grains of rice overnight and the next day, it¡¯s soft and tasty,¡± she says. Even the skin has therapeutic value for Neihsial as applies on her skin for a supple feel.

Neihsial loves her avocado and uses the peel for her skin.

Yishey Yongda, a senior government official of Sikkim, is quite used to having freshly-plucked avocadoes from the local market. ¡°The fruit does not even need peeling. Gently roll on the table and press the fruit with your palm and apply pressure allowing the seeds to escape, and suck the fruit leaving the skin behind,¡± she says.

Dr Ishi Khosla, renowned nutritionist, confirms the medicinal value of avocado. ¡°What you get is a good fat. The fruit is laden with vitamin E and A. It is perfect for a healthy heart, managing appetite and losing weight and great for those who have diabetics.¡±

Indeed, the good taste laden with vitamins is what makes it so desirable. Of course, the type of soil and climatic conditions are the deterring factors for growing avocado particularly in the region. It thrives well in well-aerated and loose soil and slightly colder climates.

All that fit the Northeast rather well. Perhaps that explains why avocados, which were never a part of the traditional crops, are making such inroads in the Northeast.

FILE PHOTO. ASSOCIATED PRESS

At New Bazaar, a popular local market of Churachandpur district, traders are exploring business options. The selling rate per kg ranges between Rs 200 to 250. Sometimes growers come and sell directly to customers. In Shillong too, avocados have prime spots along with other local fruits. Vendors rely on small-time suppliers who bring the fruit from Mizoram, or across the border town of Myanmar.

In Imphal, especially around the Deulaland market, a residential colony, vegetable vendors take to selling avocados that come from Ukhrul district and many traders in turn buy from these vendors to sell it to other pockets of the city. It¡¯s the same with fruit vendors at Bara Bazaar, a popular local market of Aizawl, who now stock avocados alongside other local fruits like oranges and banana.

How did avocado, which is far from being a traditional fruit of Northeast, make such inroads?

In fact, it all started with seeds that were brought by travellers from across the border in Myanmar and then the Mizos took it upon themselves to try their hands at growing a completely new fruit. That was some 15 years ago, recalls Dr Elizabeth Saipari, Director of Horticulture, whose department since experimented with avocado cultivation and saw some significant success over the years. But the challenge was, it bore fruit after four to six years and suddenly the trees would become lifeless and die.

That mystery is something her department is looking into even as they are exploring a more lucrative fruit crop: dragon fruit from Vietnam, which is another story altogether.

An Avocado seller in Churandpur.

Since then, avocado, in seeds or in the fruit stage, travelled to other parts of Northeast states. Especially to Manipur ¨C which shares a border in the southwest and many people took to planting it either in their gardens or farms.

In Arunachal Pradesh, Liza Apang, a government employee, says her mother-in-law planted from the seed about 15 years ago and it has been bearing fruits enough for the family. Elsewhere in the interiors of the state, there are locals who grow avocado but there is no way to quantify the number of growers, in fact in the entire region. But what¡¯s apparent is, avocado is no longer an unfamiliar fruit tree to own in one¡¯s garden.

Alvina Chishi, a government employee, in Dimapur, for instance, planted two saplings that were gifted to her by her friends. One has long perished. Yet, she nurtures hope of a good harvest on the surviving tree.

Dimlianniang, 45, and her family are considering replacing their banana plantation to experiment avocado. Today, at her family farm in Churachandpur district, she and her husband have planted over 100 avocado trees. Each from seeds they ate and collected over a period of time. A seed can take about two to six weeks to sprout. While the family waits for harvest, Dimlianniang¡¯s diabetic mother-in-law who also has blood pressure regularly feasts on the fruit brought from local market.

Healthy Buddha bowl lunch with grilled chicken, quinoa, spinach, avocado, brussels sprouts, broccoli, red beans with sesame seeds. GETTY IMAGES

Ukhrul district of Manipur, which is famed for having the world¡¯s unique Shiroy Lily, a rare flower that blooms once a year, is one place where avocados are believed to be thriving. No wonder, most of the residents are planning or, are already reaping a bountiful harvest.

Tuisem Ngakang, 42, also from Ukhrul, is hoping to get a bountiful harvest from his avocado farm that he started three years ago. Meanwhile, he is happy supplying fresh avocados from Manipur to Delhi¡¯s Azadpur Market. He supplies over 20 tonnes of fruit per year. What makes the fruit from Northeast particularly richer in taste are the climatic conditions and the soil.

Breakfast avocado sandwich - with crispy bacon, quail egg, tomatoes, goat cheese, green peas, radish, cucumber. GETTY IMAGES

Sikkim is perhaps the only state that has indigenous avocado since time immemorial. Yongda says ¡°Pomsi¡±, the indigenous name for avocado, has been growing since time immemorial. Pomsi grows in big trees and bear fruits every alternative year. In fact, locals are blessed to have two types of pomsi in Sikkim ¨C oppom, as the name suggests, is tasty and milky. In fact, the word om, is a shortened name for milk. The second variety is called Chupom and the word ¡°chu¡± means water and so, locals say, this variety is somewhat insipid and lacks flavour.

In the last 15 years, there is a new variety that people are experimenting with seeds from outside. ¡°But the fruit of this is big and nowhere near the small indigenous variety that has rich flavour,¡± says Yongda.

That explains why avocados from the Northeast will now find a proper position in the commercial market outside its territory.

Hoihnu Hauzel is an independent journalist, and founder of www.northeastodyssey.com

PHOTOGRAPHS BY: THANGPU SAMTE / ILLUSTRATION BY RANAK MANN