Lavender brings profit for Doda farmers

In News –Income of farmers  had quadrupled   after shifting from maize to lavender across villages in Doda .

Background

• Lavender was introduced by Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine in the temperate regions of the Jammu division under CSIR-Aroma Mission in 2018 and tried to popularise it in Doda, Kishtwar, and Rajouri districts.
• The farmers get help from IIIM-Jammu to sell their produce.
  • There are four distillation units set up by CSIR-IIIM Jammu in Doda and two more have been proposed to meet the increased demand.
  • On February 9, 2021, CSIR-IIIM-Jammu announced Aroma Mission phase 2 after the success of the first phase.
• Outcomes –

• Lavender oil sells for at least Rs 10,000 per litre which helps  in increasing farmers  incomes.
• It also provided employment to the district’s women farmers.

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.

Source :DTE