// BBC BUSINESS NEWS — FINANZA
India wants to join the strawberry superpowers
India relies on strawberry varieties from the US and Europe
In the west of India, the mountainous region of Mahabaleshwar is home to most of India's strawberry farms.
Around 85% of India's strawberry cultivation happens there.
An altitude of more than 1,000m (3,280ft) gifts the region a long cool growing season between November and March.
In addition, light, well-drained soil is well-suited to strawberry cultivation.
But that doesn't mean farmers have an easy life - it's a labour intensive and risky way to make a living.
"If you have a field full of strawberries and sudden heavy rains hit, the entire crop is ruined and we have to bear massive losses," says Sheetal Danavle who, with her husband, grows strawberries on half of their three-acre farm.
Strawberry plants have to be replaced every season and are not grown from seed. Instead, farmers buy young plants from suppliers. For Danavle, on her small farm, that's an outlay of $2,500 (£1,900) every year.
"If the season goes well, you can earn double your investment. But the climate makes it a huge gamble," she says.
Farming strawberries can be a "huge gamble" says Sheetal Danavle