Journal of
Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 October 2018 | 10(11):
12614–12617
Cultivation of the Himalayan seasoning Allium in a remote village
of Uttarakhand, India
Chandra Prakash Kuniyal
1 & Bir Singh Negi 2
1 Herbal Research and Development Institute,
Mandal, Gopeshwar, Chamoli, Uttarakhand 246401,
India
2 Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and
Farmers Welfare, Government of India, Krishi Bhavan, New Delhi 110001, India
Present address: Consultant to the National
Horticulture Board and NABARD, Government of India, 302, Best Avenue Apartment,
Balbir Road, Dehradun, Uttarakhand
248006, India
1 cpkuniyal@rediffmail.com (corresponding
author), 2 negi.bir59@gmail.com
doi: https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.3807.10.11.12614-12617
Editor: D.S. Rawat, G.B.
Pant University of Agriculture & Technology, Pantnagar,
India. Date
of publication: 26 October 2018 (online & print)
Manuscript details: Ms # 3807 |
Received 20 Septemner 2017 | Final received 19
September 2018 | Finally accepted 01 October 2018
Citation: Kuniyal, C.P. & B.S. Negi (2018). Cultivation of the Himalayan seasoning Allium
in a remote village of Uttarakhand, India. Journal of Threatened
Taxa 10(11): 12614–12617; https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.3807.10.11.12614-12617
Copyright: © Kuniyal & Negi
2018. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International License. JoTT allows
unrestricted use of this article in any medium, reproduction and distribution
by providing adequate credit to the authors and the source of publication.
Funding: Financial assistance for field work was provided by the Government of Uttarakhand.
Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.
Acknowledgements: The authors are thankful to the Editor, Journal of
Threatened Taxa, for constant support and to the anonymous reviewer for
providing valuable suggestions on the initial draft of this manuscript. They have helped us a lot to improve this
communication. Mr.
Rudra Singh & Mr. Mohan
Singh, Tolma Village, are
acknowledged for providing field information.
Himalayan
Seasoning Allium or Strachey’s Chive Allium stracheyi
Baker (Family: Amaryllidaceae; vernacular: ‘Faran’, ‘Jambu’), growing between
2000–4000 m in the western Himalaya, is a bulbous perennial herb that is
commonly used as a spice and culinary herb.
The pleasant aroma of Chives is favoured for flavouring and seasoning
food items (Anonymous 2003), and this species is also useful in promoting
digestion and in relieving cold and cough (Maikhuri
et al. 2017). Allium stracheyi is enlisted as Vulnerable in the Red Data
Book of Indian Plants (Dasgupta 1990). Ved et al. (2003)
have also categorized it as Vulnerable in the western Himalayan states of Jammu
& Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand. Regional field information on its
distribution and use categorized A. stracheyi
under cultivation and low-pressure medicinal and aromatic plants in the Uttarakhand (Rawat 2005). In some parts of Uttarakhand,
A. auriculatum Kunth
is in cultivation and may be misidentified as A. stracheyi
(Rawat 2005).
Some authors have also mentioned ‘Pharan’ as A.
carolinianum Redoute (Silori & Badola 2000). In some other reports, the vernacular for A.
stracheyi is mentioned as Jambu
(Negi 2012); however, the variation in local names
may be due to different dialects. The
foliage of A. stracheyi contains a higher
quantity of carbohydrate, protein, vitamin C, vitamin E, and phosphorus as
compared to its allied species such as A. humile Kunth and A. rubellum M. Beib. (Maikhuri
et al. 2017).
The
Himalayan Seasoning Allium is cultivated in several cold desert villages located
in the buffer zone of the Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve (NDBR) in districts Pithoragarh and Chamoli in Uttarakhand, India. Tolma (~2600–2800 m;
30.5240N & 79.7520E), a small, remote village located
between the cold desert and a temperate region of NDBR in Chamoli
District, western Himalaya, however, is well-known for traditional cultivation
of this species for generations (Fig. 1, Image 1). According to natives, cultivation of A. stracheyi in Tolma may have
begun in 1915–1920 as an innovative trial and the area under cultivation was
not more than a common kitchen garden having an expansion of few metres. Some reports, however, state that prior to
the closure of Indo-Tibet trans-border trade during the early sixties, A. stracheyi was exchanged with
India by the Tibetan Lamas or other traders for bartering of daily need
commodities, and possibly after 1960s, commercial cultivation of A. stracheyi was started in this region (Nautiyal & Nautiyal
2004). It is important to note that the
cultivation of A. stracheyi is also acting as
an anticipated measure for the conservation of its genetic resources (Pandey et al. 2008).
Cultivation of A. stracheyi in Tolma Village is an interesting practice; therefore, the
survey was conducted in 2015 for finding the cultivation status and economic
benefits of A. stracheyi.
At
present, a total of 20 out of 25 families in Tolma
Village are cultivating A. stracheyi in a
total of 1.10ha area. Of them, 17 have
an average of 0.03ha area (0.02–0.06 ha) and three have an average of 0.18ha
area (0.14–0.22 ha) under A. stracheyi
cultivation. Being perennial, A. stracheyi is harvested twice a year (in June and
September) and about 35.00kg dried leaf (foliage) is obtained from 0.02ha
(equal to 1 ‘nali’, 1 nali
= 10 x 20 m area, 50 nali = 1ha; nali-vernacular)
is a common parameter used for measurement of land) in a year. At the village level, during 2015–16, the
prices (per kg) for Faran were close to about
INR 350.00 (USD 5.44; INR 64.29 = USD 01, as on 19 September 2017). Therefore, the gross income of farmers having
a minimum of 0.02ha area under cultivation was approximately INR 12,250.00 per
year (USD 190.54) and those having a maximum of 0.22ha area
under cultivation was approximately INR 134,750.00 per year (USD
2,095.97). Therefore, the estimated
gross income from the cultivation of A. stracheyi in
a hectare was INR 612,500.00 (USD 9,527.14).
The gross income from cultivation of A. stracheyi
in 0.02ha area was INR 8,750.00 in 2011.
The price/kg for Faran at village level then
was INR 250.00 while the estimated gross income from the cultivation of Potato Solanum tuberosum
from 0.02ha was merely around INR 1,600.00 (Kuniyal
& Sundriyal 2013). Therefore, cultivation of A. stracheyi is economically profitable than that of traditional
crops. Marketing of this species, both
at the local level and outside, is quite comfortable and in local fairs,
approximately 10.00g Chive may be sold at INR 20–25. Sometimes, the expected
produce in this village is booked by traders in advance; therefore, the
tradition of cultivation and effortless trade of A. stracheyi
is remarkable. The produce when dried, can be stored easily for a few months. Being a light and dried plant material, the
transportation of the produce is easy and does not require special means.
Total
cultivation cost in an established field (excluding the cost of planting
material, as once this species is planted, it will flourish for many years;
nearly 1.8 to 2.7 lakh plants may be required in a hectare) (Nautiyal & Nautiyal 2004),
including the cost of farmyard manure, weeding, harvesting, and processing for A.
stracheyi is around INR 140,000.00/ha/annum and
the net profit is likely to be INR 472,500.00/ha/annum. After processing (chopping and preferably
shade drying), average production per ha of A. stracheyi
is estimated to be around 1,750.00kg (1.75 metric ton (MT); 1MT =
1,000.00kg). In some other mountain
valleys located in the vicinity of NDBR, however, the production of A. carolinianum (Pharan — the
species used similarly as A. stracheyi) and A.
wallichii Kunth (Jambu) are reported to be 79.3 kg/ha/year and 102.8
kg/ha/year (Silori and Badola
2000) and around 2,431.00kg A. stracheyi (Jambu) from 3.45ha area (Negi
2012).
The
cultivation of Himalayan Seasoning Allium in other villages such as Malari, Jhelum, Gamshali and Niti in Chamoli District and Martoli, Pachhu and Milam in Pithoragarh District in Uttarakhand
is either sparse or not practiced by the majority of the families inhabiting
the village, and harvesting from the wild is also common (Bhatt 1999). Since agro-climatic conditions vary in
mountains areas, the information on production may vary. The villagers of Tolma,
however, have
been cultivating this species for generations and, therefore, their information
on productivity may be considered as more reliable. Cultivation of A. stracheyi
in Tolma Village is an excellent example of a
traditional practice being upheld as a customary one, as well as being
established as a profitable business. It
was also interesting to note that out of the 20 families cultivating A. stracheyi in this village, only one has received
any kind of financial support from government agencies for extension
activities. Therefore, this is an
exemplary practice for a MAP cultivation that is flourishing without any
subsidy or support price. In addition to
attractive economic benefits, A. stracheyi has
its importance as a domestic culinary herb and indispensable gift. This village is also a source of planting
material of this species for surrounding areas and nearby villages. On the other hand, cultivation of Picrorhiza kurrooa
and Saussurea costus
are some of the other examples of medicinal plant cultivation in Uttarakhand; however, in order to maintain the cultivation
of these two species, intensive and extensive attempts were initiated at the
policy, legal, and facilitation levels (Kuniyal et
al. 2015; Kuniyal & Negi
2016).
The
cultivation of A. stracheyi in this village is
an excellent conservation practice.
Also, some of the produce grown by villagers is stored for 4–6 months
for domestic use during winter season.
The post-harvest practices for A. stracheyi,
however, are still traditional and the area under cultivation is nearly consistent
from many years. Sometimes, the material chopped and dried traditionally also gets infected by
diverse types of fungal/ bacterial infections. Therefore, for financial attractiveness,
advancement in technology is essential (Buschke
2015). It is suggested that the
traditional method of chopping and drying must be replaced with new and less
destructive methods. Studies are
required to standardize suitable moisture content in dried materials. Better post-harvest processing, attractive
packaging, and organic branding will also help the farmers in terms of
increased economic returns as compared to their current income. In the advent of more attractive and new food
crops like Pea (Pisum sativum),
challenges may occur for maintaining this practice. Attempts for establishing exact scientific
identity of similarly used cultivated Allium in Uttarakhand
and their area expansion are also suggested.
Microclimatic conditions for cultivation of A. stracheyi
in this village are suitable and the flavour of Tolma’s
Faran is much favoured; therefore, this village may
also act as an excellent research site for initiating the work on development
of improved varieties.
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