Dubai: Retailers have allayed fears of a shortage of fruits and vegetables popular among the expat community of Keralites following a ban on their imports from the Nipah virus-hit Indian state.
The UAE on Tuesday announced the ban on imports of fresh produce from Kerala where initial reports had linked fruit bats to the outbreak of the brain-damaging disease that has killed over a dozen people and infected several others.
More than 100 tonnes of fruits and vegetables are imported from Kerala into the UAE daily.
With the exports from the south Indian state completely stopping, many expats fear that Malayalis here will miss most of their native fruits and veggies.
Sajitha Nandakumar, a housewife in Dubai, said she was concerned if the ban would lead to a shortage of vegetables from her state.
“I am a vegetarian and I don’t cook non-vegetarian items for my husband and sons. I don’t know how this ban will affect our purchases and cooking of vegetables from Kerala if the ban stays for long.”
However, retailers here said it is just a misconception that most of the fresh produce that are popular among Malayalis, who form the largest group of Indian expats in the UAE, are grown in Kerala.
They also allayed fears of a shortage as the majority of the favourite fruits and vegetables of Keralites have been coming from and are still available in other parts of the country and in countries like Sri Lanka and Oman.
They said shipments from other states which used to come through the three airports in Kerala had already been diverted to airports in neighbouring states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
“Kerala has been a transit port for exporting fruits and vegetables from neighbouring states,” said Sameer K. Mohammad, managing director of Jaleel Holdings that supplies Indian fruits and vegetables to several supermarkets and retail traders in Al Aweer Fruits and Vegetable Market in Dubai.
“Most of the vegetables that are typically popular among Keralites are actually imported from Tamil Nadu. Even the state itself is dependent on its neighbours for these produce.”
There was no visible impact of the ban yet in the local markets in the UAE on Wednesday though the supplies of some types of bananas and banana leaves started dwindling.
The Kerala varieties of bananas are known as ethappazham or nenthrappazham, rasakadali, and njalipoovan among Malayalis.
The challenge for retailers will be to deliver these varieties, said V. Nandakumar, chief communications officer of Lulu Group.
“The replacements for these will be yelakki (cardamom) banana from Karnataka and yellow cooking banana from Tamil Nadu.”
He said the banana exports have been generally overlapping from Kerala and Tamil Nadu seasonally. “Now the season is in Tamil Nadu.”
The rest of the popular Kerala items have been sourced to the UAE from various Indian states and other countries like Sri Lanka and Oman.
“For example, most of the coconuts were mainly sourced from the Pollachi agricultural belt in Tamil Nadu. Now, we have started shipping them from Tuticorin.”
Alternative sources of popular Kerala fresh produce
Mangoes: Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal
Raw mango, gooseberry: Tamil Nadu
Jackfruit: Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka
Green chillies and curry leaves: Sri Lanka, Oman, Uganda
Banana leaves, ivy gourd, yellow cucumber, drumstick: Maharashtra
Flat green beans wax gourd: Gujarat
Yard-long beans: West Bengal, Bangladesh
Banana blossom, banana stem: Oman, Sri Lanka
Okra (lady’s finger): Maharashtra, Oman
Bitter gourd, snake gourd: Maharashtra, Karnataka
