Gondia’s tribal farmers strike gold by growing high-value turmeric

Nagpur: Gondia, a district in east Vidarbha, is traditionally known as a rice belt with tribal population having small land holdings depending on the annual crop for their survival. But the main cash crop hasn’t been yielding over ₹15,000 to ₹20,000 net income for them because of low prices for paddy. The tribal women had been growing turmeric for domestic consumption but were unaware of its real worth. “The turmeric grown in the jungles of Gondia has high percentage of curcumin, which is generally found in the crop from Northeast,” said Syed Shakir Ali, senior scientist and head, Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK), Gondia.

Tapping the potential of this high-value crop, KVK Gondia introduced crop diversification to cultivate turmeric on commercial scale around six months ago.Recently, the tribal farmers under Mahila Arthik Vikas Mahamandal (MAVIM) dispatched it first consignment of two tonne turmeric powder to Dubai, fetching them ₹2.80lakh. On Tuesday, KVK Gondia, MAVIM and Foresh International Pvt Ltd, Pune, organized one-day awareness programme-cum-workshop on ‘Value chain management and export of turmeric’ under the Tribal Sub-Plan (TSP) of ATARI (Agricultural Technology Application Research Institute), Pune, during a buyer-seller meet of Farmers Scientist Forum (FSF) at KVK Hiwara-Gondia.KVK invited exporters from Dubai and Pune so that the turmeric from Gondia can directly be marketed in Dubai through them.District collector Chinmay Gotmare and PDKV Akola comptroller Pramod Patil were among those who guided the farmers.Five different groups of MAVIM and farmer producer companies (FPCs) comprising around 15 farmers had exported the two tonne turmeric. “The women farmers, FPCs, SHGs and FSF members were very happy to receive the cheque. The company had demanded 20 tonne though. We collected two tonnes turmeric from different farmers and made its powder before export,” said Ali.In all, 125 farmers, farm women, women’s of MAVIM, entrepreneurs, SHGs women, members of FSF and Farmer Producer’s Companies (FPCs), officers and all KVK staff participated in the programme. “The tribal farmers hold less than one or two acre lands. One of them alone produced one tonne turmeric. As paddy is not giving enough profits to them, KVK is trying to bring new crops to the region to increase their income,” he said.Ali said farmers have been sowing paddy in summer as well as Kharif season. “Sufficient water is not available in summer, yet they were cultivating rice. KVK is suggesting that they grow paddy during kharif and utilise the land available during six months of rabi and summer for alternate and economically viable crops,” the KVK head said. KVK would help farmers establish value chain for these crops. “Value chain is very important for getting more profit from agriculture and allied enterprises. We have highlighted processing, packing, branding, and marketing of crops,” said Ali.