The Internationalization process of Nova Siri Genetics (NSG), a company that researches and experiments new varieties of strawberry and berries, continues. In particular, a company delegation has just visited India to meet with its partnersMahaberry Private Limited” and “8 Berries Farm & Nursery Private Limited”, the two lndian companies with which NSG signed an agreement last August for the marketing, testing and multiplication of its strawberry varieties and new selections.
The purpose of the visit was to consolidate the partnership with the two Indian companies and to gain a deeper understanding of the needs of local producers and how NSG's breeding program can contribute to the development of the sector in the country.

In particular, NSG attended two conferences focused on the world of strawberry. The first one was held in the Mahabaleshwar area, in the Maharashtra region (central India), characterized by large areas of strawberry cultivation where there is a strong demand for new cultivars that are already established worldwide.
The second conference was organized in the southern part of the country, namely in the Nilgiris district of Tamil Nadu, an area with great potential for growth in strawberry cultivation and the establishment of nurseries to produce quality seedlings for the country's strawberry production fields.

Nicola Tufaro, the company’s breeder, who played the role of the guest of honor at both events, states: “It was a valuable opportunity to present our genetic improvement activities and new varieties to producers, associations, and government agencies. We noticed a strong interest from the Indian players in new strawberry cultivars capable of improving both production performances and product quality present to date in that territory.”

Pillai Srinivasan, Managing Director of the companies Mahaberry and 8 berries, says: “Both NSG’s presentations at the two conferences were received with considerable interest by Indian growers in the two areas. In fact, this is the first ever strawberry farmer’s conference in the country & this was done on a mission to upgrade the strawberry farming in India. The producers in Mahabaleshwar are looking for new better performing strawberry varieties in terms of both quantity and fruit quality to replace the age-old existing varieties. Therefore, NSG's presentation at the conferences sparked great enthusiasm among producers, as they were able to learn about NSG's new varieties, which are showing very positive results in areas of the world with climatic conditions similar to India's berry-growing regions. On the other hand, many Nilgiris growers had great Insight after the NSG’s presentation & one on one Q&A session. New growers were encouraged and were delighted about the news regarding further establishment of strawberry plant nurseries in India for the production of quality plants.”

The trip was also an opportunity to analyse the performances of some of NSG’s strawberry cultivars that have already been present in the country for some time. Specifically, Melissa has become the premium benchmark variety for many producing companies. This cultivar shows very good production performances, standing out for high-quality yields and good tolerance to pathogens.

NSG 203 - Marimbella® has been recently introduced and it is gaining recognition for its high rusticity, in terms of adaptation to open field cultivation (standard cultivation practice in India) and its high tolerance to soil pathogens, given the lack of soil disinfestation.

The hope of the Italian breeding company is to continue the collaborative relationship with its two Indian partners, with the aim of satisfying the needs of producers by offering new better performing varieties, combined with technical support for a territory with such a high development potential as India.