eChapter Name: Papaya
9789390512201
eBook Name: PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY OF TROPICAL AND SUBTROPICAL FRUITS
by L. Naram Naidu, P. K.Yadav, A K Shukla, K K Pramanick, Santosh Watpade, Jitender Kumar
Papaya (Carica papaya L.) has emerged from the status of a home garden plant to that of commercial orchards and is popular with the farmers because it is one of the few fruits which fruits throughout the year, give quick and high returns, requires less area per tree and adapts itself to diverse soil and climatic conditions. It is an important fruit of tropical and mild subtropical regions of the country. Though India is the leading producer of this fruit, the productivity (43.27 MT/ha) is below it’s potentially (100 t/ ha). In India, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra are important centres of its production.
Origin and Distribution
Papaya is native to tropical America, from Southern Mexico through the Andes of South America. It was spread to the south by Indians, and throughout the Caribbean with Spanish exploration. It was spread in 16th century to other parts of the world. The Spanish also carried it to Europe and the Pacific Islands. By the mid 17th century, papaya was distributed pan tropically. Papaya was introduced to Hawaii in the 1800s, and Hawaii remains the only state in the USA to produce papaya commercially. Now it is grown in all tropical and sub-tropical countries like Australia, Hawaii, Taiwan, Puerto Rico, Peru, Florida, Pakistan, Bangladesh and India. It was introduced in India in 16th century by Portuguese. There are leading producer countries in the world which are India, Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia, Dominican republic, Nigeria, Democratic republic of the congo, Cuba, Thailand and Venezuela (Bolivarian republic).
India, is the worldwide leading producer of papaya and its principal exportation market is focused on Gulf countries. The papaya cultivation in India was 138 with production 5989 (‘000 hectare production ‘000 metric tones) in 2017–18 and it was 146 with production 6096 (‘000 hectare production ‘000 metric tones) 2018–2019. At harvested area rank, Mexico is the fifth papaya harvester, with 17,500 hectares. The maximum area in Gujarat followed by Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, and Chhattisgarh; and production is maximum in Andhra Pradesh followed by Gujarat and Karnataka, Anony, 2019.