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Soumik Dey
Soumik Dey

KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER

Israel's olive branch brings cheer to Rajasthan farmers

soumik-olive-israel-1 Citrus plants are one of the most difficult to nurture. For better survivability of the foreign species of mandarins in Kota (among the hottest places in India), they are grafted onto base branches of local lemon varieties. This is an Israeli technique to aid plant adaptation | Soumik Dey

When the desert state of Rajasthan was trying to improve the income of farmers with crop diversification, it was Israel that literally extended an olive branch and supported the desert state's endeavours about nine years back. As a result, Rajasthan—once known for guar, bajra, lentils and some low-value spice crops—is now experimenting with far higher value crops like olive, oranges, pomegranate among many others.

“It was Israel that introduced us to olives around eight years back,” says Prabhulal Saini, a farmer himself and Rajasthan's agriculture and gardens minister. “They gave us 1.12 lakh plant material in 2008, which we planted across seven of our 10 agri-climatic zones of the state—a total about 180 hectares of government land,” said Saini. Since then, olive crop has gained prominence in Rajasthan. The edible oil crop is presently grown across 900 hectares in eight districts of the state. Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje is also enthusiastic when it comes to the prospects.

Raje's government has already taken the first step that could make Rajasthan synonymous with the home of the olive plant. It has sent 17,000 olive plants to Nepal government, enthused by the prospects of olive in the hill nation as well. The state has formed Rajasthan Oil Cultivation Ltd, in association with India-based Finolex Plasson Industries and Indolive Industries of Israel, to market its olive oil under the brand name Raj Olive.

It also plans to have olive-related tourism activities in the state and wants to set up Olive City, Olive Hills and similar properties in the state that receives a large share of the tourists coming to India.

Going by the stated target, the state will bring 5,000 hectares under olive plantation in next three years. It also plans to market olive tea in variants like ginger, tulsi and green tea and has established plants to process olive leaves. These factories will also manufacture olive leaf capsules, which the state government believes is full of good antibodies and many other health benefits.

But not all is well yet in olive country. The oil crop that bears fruits after a five-year wait gave bountiful harvest in the first two years. Thereafter, the state farmers are learnt to have deferred providing the required round of nutrition to the plants, resulting in poor crop this year at least.

Saini agrees. “They had skipped some of the fertiliser application, confident that the plant could sustain itself.” He says that the state government had sped up the initiative to process olive leaves now in an effort to not distress farmers.

“We are with the farmers. If there are no fruits, they will still not sustain a loss. They can sell their leaves and we will buy them for our processing units,” Saini said, assuring that the government was not under any pressure from olive farmers.

Another mark of Israeli interest in farm intervention is in Rajasthan's agri-powerhouse district, Kota. Israeli farm scientists have aided the state government in setting up a Centre of Excellence for Citrus Fruits. In the last four years of its establishment, this centre has sold 50,000 plant saplings of seven globally preferred orange varieties to about 1,100 farmers in the district.

“We are growing Spanish Valencia oranges, Jafa mandarin, Daisy oranges and similar 24 varieties that are globally valued. The plant materials were provided by Israel some years back and developed at a facility in Karnal,” said Hamid Khan, deputy director horticulture at COE, Kota. 

Not stopping with providing plant materials, Israeli scientists make regular visits to fulfil its commitments of providing technical collaboration. As a result, these orange trees are planted on riaised platforms, allowing inter-cropping.

Innovative drip techniques have ensured that the plants get the right amount of nutrition and moisture. The introduction of crop sheds and greenhouses in the state have also gone up following Israeli interventions in farm techniques adopted in Rajasthan.

“With Israeli collaboration, we have also set up a similar centre for excellence for dates (24 varieties) and also pomegranates (seven varieties) in Rajasthan,” said Prabhulal Saini. Prompted by the Israeli example of optimising water usage, Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje has embarked on a mission to empower the state's farmers with the technique of gaining the maximum yield with minimum use of water.

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Topics : #Israel | #Rajasthan

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