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Rajasthan: Foreign dates to yield bumper crop, farmers expecting windfall gains

Good quality dates fetch price between Rs 1,000 & Rs 5,000

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Sadula Ram Choudhary, a farmer from Chohtan has planted almost 600 plants on five hectares of land and is ready to reap a bumper crop this year.
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After cumin seeds and pomegranate; experiment of farmers in desert districts of Rajasthan with foreign variety of dates is yielding them good results. Farmers across Barmer and Jaisalmer districts had planted foreign variety date palms and the fruit is now ready to yield them rich profits.   

Dates begin to ripen in the last week of June and are ready to be picked by end of July. A date palm begins fruiting from the third year and goes on to give over 80 kg dates as it matures in six years. Dates fetch a price of Rs 1,000 to 5,000 depending on variety, quality and size.

Sadula Ram Choudhary, a farmer from Chohtan has planted almost 600 plants on his five hectares of land and is ready to reap a bumper crop this year. “I had taken the tissue culture saplings through a government subsidized scheme in 2010. Over the years I have added to number and variety of dates. The first fruiting in 2013 gave me 30 - 40 kg dates per plant. And this year I hope to get 80 - 90 kg fruit per plant,” said Sadula Ram.     

Farmers in the desert districts have always been a worried lot, dependent on rains for their crops, but ask Sadula Ram and he says, “This crop has given me peace of mind along with profits. I can sleep easy,” he said.

Agriculture minister Prabhulal Saini informed, “This year the fruiting has been amazing. There is an immense demand of the crop. The top quality fruit is sold for eating while the rest is purchased by private date wineries in the state.”  

“The PM had met some date farmers at Jaipur rally and they had presented him the fruit bunch as a bouquet. The tissue culture plants that cost Rs 3000 to 4000 were given to farmers at Rs 350 to 400. Barmer, Jaisalmer, Bikaner, and Sriganganagar are conducive for the crop,” added Saini.     

“The dry areas of Barmer are conducive to grow several foreign and Indian varieties. We grow several varieties like Al Ajwah, Medjool, Barhi, Nagel, Fard, Nimeshi, Anbarah, Nimeshi and Desi Kutch. We will harvest the crop in the third week of July,” said date farmer Chandra Prakash Seyol,

Prime minister Narendra Modi had during his Jaipur visit reiterated his priority of doubling farmers’ income by 2022. While the desert farmers’ results with dates are encouraging, they are a small number. The need is to adopt these practices at a larger level. 

NO MORE WORRIES

Farmers in the desert districts have always been a worried lot, dependent on rains for their crops, but ask Sadula Ram and he says that this crop has given him peace of mind along with profits. Agriculture minister Prabhulal Saini said, “This year the fruiting has been amazing. There is an immense demand of the crop.”

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