CSIR-AROMA Mission

In News

• The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine (CSIR-IIIM) will organise a festival to promote lavender in Bhaderwah (Doda district) of Jammu and Kashmir.

CSIR – AROMA Mission

• Aim: 
  • To develop and disseminate the aroma-related science and technology to reach the end users / clients of CSIR: Farmers, industry and society.
  • To bring additional area under captive cultivation of aromatic cash crops, particularly targeting rain-fed and degraded land across the country.
  • To provide technical and infra-structural support for distillation and value additions to farmers and growers all over the country. 
  • To achieve value-addition to essential oils and aroma ingredients for their integration into global trade and economy.
• RRL12: CSIR-IIIM Jammu has developed an elite variety (RRL12) of lavender over the decades and agro technology to support it. 
  • The variety is highly suitable for cultivation in the rain-fed regions of the temperate areas of India, including the Kashmir Valley and temperate areas of the Jammu division.

What is the Purple Revolution?

• About: The Purple or Lavender Revolution was launched by the Union Ministry of Science & Technology through the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) Aroma Mission.
• Aim: It aimed at increasing lavender cultivation in Jammu and Kashmir. 
• Focus: The mission’s focus was to take advantage of the geographical conditions and increase the homegrown market along with farmers’ income.
• Under the mission, first-time farmers were given free lavender saplings, while those who had cultivated lavender before were charged Rs. 5-6 per sapling.
• It will help in providing means of livelihood to budding farmers and agri-entrepreneurs and give a boost to Start-Up India campaign and promote a spirit of entrepreneurship in the region.

About Lavender

• Lavender, (genus Lavandula), genus of about 30 species of the mint family (Lamiaceae), native to countries bordering the Mediterranean.
• Lavender species are common in herb gardens for their fragrant leaves and attractive flowers.
• Lavenders are small evergreen shrubs with gray-green hoary linear leaves.
• The purple flowers are sparsely arranged on spikes at the tips of long bare stalks and produce small nut let fruits.
• At present, large-scale lavender cultivation is limited to J&K but governments in Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand are also encouraging their farmers to take up lavender.
  • Small scale farming of the plant is already underway in these states.
• Usage:

• The plants are widely cultivated for their essential oils, which are used to scent a variety of products.
• The dried flowers, for example, have long been used in sachets to scent chests and closets, and the ancient Romans used lavender in their baths.
• Lavender is sometimes also used to flavour beverages and sweets and has a number of applications in herbal medicine
• Lavender oil, or lavender flower oil, is obtained by distillation of the flowers and is used chiefly in fine perfumes and cosmetics.

Significance

• Farmers and industry: It is expected to enable Indian farmers and the aroma industry to become global leaders in the production and export of some other essential oils on the pattern of menthol mint.
  • Start-ups: Lavender farmers and start-ups will be felicitated. 
  • Farmer’s income: Lavender cultivation will supplement farmers’ income in the area. It is expected to provide substantial benefits to the farmers in achieving higher profits, utilisation of wastelands and protection of their crops from a wild and grazing animal
• Employment: Lavender cultivation has employed about 5,000 farmers and young entrepreneurs in geographically remote areas of J&K. More than 25,000 farming families would be directly benefited and an employment of more than 10-15 lakhs mandays will be generated in rural areas.
• Aromatic crops: 
  • It will promote the cultivation of aromatic crops for essential oils that are in great demand by the aroma industry.
  • Perfume production: This will help in production of an additional 700 tonnes of essential oil for perfumery, cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries, and use of these oils in value addition and herbal products would generate a business of at least 200 crores.

Source: DTE