Israel's Barhi date variety gaining ground in arid Kutch

"Acreage under date (Kharek) in Kutch has risen from 9,900 to 16,950 hectares in last one decade, off which approx 1,800 hectares is now under tissue culture plantation of Israel's Barhi variety," Gujarat Agro Industries Corporation (GAIC) MD N K Singh said.

With good results from foreign tissue culture plants, date production in Gujarat, has doubled to 1.5 lakh metric tonne (MT) per annum in last one decade, he said.

Mundra taluka now accounts for highest date production in Gujarat. An estimated 40 per cent of the total date fruit production of state comes from there, Singh said.

The cost of an imported plant from Israel is over Rs 3,000. The state government offers subsidy of Rs 1,250 on one tissue culture plant. Each such plant is said to produce over 1500 kgs of fruit per season.

"Buoyed by the response, farmers are now experimenting to grow date plants in Patan and Banaskantha districts of Gujarat," a GAIC official said.

Kutch in Gujarat so far has been the only date producing region of India.

In last three years, the foreign date variety has found wider acceptance in Kutch as it has well suited to the region. The fruit season is very short say for two months between July to August.

"The farmers are procuring tissue culture plants of this variety from Israel as it is very well suited to Kutch region," Singh said. (More)