‘The trick is to confuse the plant to think it is summer all along and make it bear apple through the year’
Though cheery and blithe in countenance, 74-year-old Chiranjit Parmar, a horticulture scientist from Himachal Pradesh, hopes to radically change the agricultural landscape of the region. After having observed the success of apple cultivation in Batu, Indonesia, Mr. Parmar wants to introduce the fruit, hitherto associated with cooler climes, in the tropical humidity of Karnataka.

“It is an experiment. And like all experiments, it can also fail,” he told the group of farmers who had assembled in the city on Saturday for his seminar on ‘Apple cultivation in Karnataka’.

The idea sounded incredulous to farmers who had travelled from as far away as Kodagu. Apple – whose mass cultivation is associated with regions on the foothills of the Himalayas such as Shimla and Kashmir — needs to have a chilly weather for it to bear fruit in the summer. How then was it supposed to survive in a region where temperatures rarely go below 12 degrees Celsius?

“The trick is to confuse the plant. The broad principle is that just after the sapling experiences chilling in Himachal or Kashmir, it is transported here. As there is not much of a temperature change here during winter, the plant thinks it is summer all along and bears fruit through the year,” Mr. Parmar told the befuddled farmers.

He illustrates this with a picture of cultivation in Indonesia, where, while half the apple orchard bears fruit, the other half is bare. “Crops can be regulated easily, as the leaves can be removed fully to stimulate winter. While in Himachal, we get six to seven tonnes of apple per hectare, in Indonesia, they get 65 tonnes and throughout the year,” he said.

So far, the experiment has seen small orchards set up in Tumkur, Somwarpet, Sringeri, and Uppinangadi – all through saplings sent by Mr. Parmar. In his first visit to the region, he said the results were encouraging, and in Tumkur, the plants were already bearing fruit within two years. “In Himachal, apple trees take five years to bear fruit. Here, it grows faster and incessantly into very tall trees as there is no crop fall or dormancy during winter,” he said.

Challenges

However, the tropical climate also brings with it a set of problems that is yet to be scientifically dealt with. For example, trees are susceptible to a variety of diseases and insect, while methods to reduce the tree height and grafting of trees needed to be worked out.

‘The trick is to confuse the apple tree to think it is always summer’

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Karnataka / by Staff Correspondent / Mangalore – April 22nd, 2013

Plantation and coffee estate owners in Kodagu, Hassan, Chikmagalur and Dakshina Kannada finally have a reason to cheer despite the decreasing prices of their produce.

For the last five to six years, a wonder plant agarwood has replaced the conventional silver oak in many coffee estates bringing handsome dividends to growers.

Agarwood is a high value commercial crop which is in great demand in national and international markets.

The tree is used to make ittar (natural perfume oil) and perfume.

The outer part of the stem, which is of low quality is used to make incense sticks and in paper manufacturing industries.

An agarwood sapling is easy to grow as its maintenance is inexpensive and it gives yield in eight years.

Traditionally, almost all coffee growers in India plant silver oaks as an intercrop providing shade to other plants. Recently, coffee plantations in Western Ghats and Malnad region have started planting agarwood. The origin of the tree can be traced to the evergreen forests of Southeast Asia.

Agarwood was first introduced in South India by Vanadurgi Agarwood India Limited (VAIL) which was formed with its shares distributed among planters, promoters and Vanadurgi Flavours and Extracts (P) Limited.

The company is exclusively involved in the planting, processing and marketing of agarwood.

VAIL Managing Director K N Dharmendra Kumar told Express that the company has distributed more than one million agarwood saplings to 5,000 plus growers across eight districts in Malnad region.

The company has entered into a buy-back agreement with farmers to provide good seedlings, technical guidance, artificial inoculation, setting up of processing units and purchase of their inventories.

He said that 150 to 200 agarwood trees can be planted in one acre plot of coffee, arecanut or coconut plantation.

Anil Ponnappa, a progressive coffee planter in Madapura said he has planted 600 agarwood trees supplied by VAIL in his coffee estate. Another agarwood grower N Vishwanath in Sagar, Shimoga district said he has planted 15,000 saplings on his dry land a year ago. “Agarwood is a good alternative to other crops whose prices are falling these days,” he added.

Agarwood is costlier than sandalwood in the international market as it is in great demand in Gulf countries.

A sandalwood tree takes at least 25-30 years to fully grow while an agarwood takes tree takes only 8-15 years.

The inner stem (resinous) of agarwood is valued at `10,000 per kg while agarwood oil costs Rs 10 lakh per kg in the international market. Agarwood is priced according to the density of wood, resin, purity, aroma and colour.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Karnataka / by Coovercolly Indresh / ENS – Somwarpet / December 02nd, 2012

Kodagu, which was once famous for honey, now produces just a few tonnes from what it used to produce annually nearly two decades ago. However, the apiculturists are facing several problems in the district.

There is ample opportunity for beekeeping in Bhagamandala. A few farmers are engaged in apiculture. However, in the recent years, farmers from Kerala keep the beehives in the coffee estates and collect honey and take it to their hometown for sale. This has become a headache from the local farmers.

Apiculture was taken on a large scale in Bhagamandala during 1990. The farmers started rearing malliferous bee brought from Kerala. The drastic decline in the production of honey was due to sacbrood disease affecting the honeybees.

Now, apiculture has started reviving in the district. Farmers from Kerala have started keeping beehives in the coffee plantations after taking permission from the owners. A few plantations have 100 to 150 beehives.

In Kerala, honey is produced only from rubber tree flowers. As there was no great demand for such honey, natural flowers are available in plenty in Bhagamandala region. Hence, growers from Kerala have started keeping their beehives in Kodagu.
A honeybee starts the honey making process by visiting a flower and gathering some of its nectar.

In the process of gathering nectar, the insect transfers pollen grains from one flower to another and pollinates the flower.

There is a great demand for ‘Coorg honey.’ The beehives from Kerala is kept in the plantations at Cherangala, Thannimani, Thavoor and others areas. In the past, the apiculturists were getting 25 kg honey from one beehive. However, now its has been reduced to three kg, said apiculturist.

At a time when apiculturists in Kodagu are getting ready to revive apiculture by availing loan from the banks and financial assistance from the government, honeybees and beehives from Kerala entering the district has become a headache. Gram panchayats should initiate suitable measures in this regard, said the farmers.

source: http://www.DeccanHerald.com / Home> District / Napoklu, DH News Service / April 04th, 2013