Hyderabad: Wanaparthy skinned drought in Telangana and Pulwama terror-hit in Jammu and Kashmir witnessed the aroma revolution.
Eight laboratories, including the Institute of Medicine and Aromatical (CIRS) center based in Hyderabad, are part of the ‘aroma mission’.
Lavender is being cultivated in Kashmir, while farmers planted lemongrass in thousands of hectares in Telangana.
Director of the Scientific and Industrial Research Council (CSIR) General Shekhar C Mande told Tii, “Places such as Pulwama and Kupwara witnessed the purple revolution with Lavender cultivation.
We have imported aromatic oil and large scale flowers.
Aroma mission is intended to reduce imports.
“India imports 182 tons of lemongrass oil every year, he said, Lucknow Cimap and his regional center in Hyderabad are actively involved in the mission.
“While CSIR-IIIM Jammu is involved in supplying lavender in Kashmir, Cimap supplying lember to be a farmer,” he added.
Scientists Cimap-Herabad said they had fostered lemongrass as agro-climate in the deccan region suitable.
Cimap-Herabad has distributed the lemongrass (Krishna variety) to tribal hamlet farmers such as Chekuruchettu sign in Wanaparthy district.
V Mothibai, a farmer recipient of the aroma mission from Chekuruchettu a sign of Gram Panchayat, said: “We have faced a lack of water and plant losses.
After the introduction of Lemongrass, we witnessed the profits.” At present, India imports 182 tons of lemongrass oil every year.
Initially, the target of the aroma mission was only 5,500 hectares, but now it has increased multifold due to a good response.
CSIR Labs also work in different aroma plants in various agro climates, process processes to extract processed oil, toxicity and economic viability analysis.
Cimap-hyderabad has developed varieties of producing medicinal and aromatic plants that are very important with the potential for exports and aiming to change desert and dry land into environmentally friendly green herbal farms.
Apart from Wanaparthy, the Godavari tribe farmer and Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh district cultivate Citronella, Lemongrass, Yarrow and Pepper roots in a rainfed condition.
Small farmers and marginals of the Anantapur District are prone to drought produce winter cherries under the condition of rainfed, some replace traditional peanuts.