Now you can add farm-fresh leafy greens to your diet all year through. A new variety of water spinach, which is usually available only in the monsoon, has been developed by the scientists of the ICAR- Indian Institute of Vegetable Research, Varanasi that can be cultivated all year round. Called Kashi Manu, the spinach, once planted, gives several yields.
The water spinach variety can be harvested three or four times in the year. “The more you harvest, the more the yield.
And, once sown, the plant survives for many years. The greens are also full of goodness with zinc, iron and antioxidants,” Rakesh Kumar Dubey, principal scientist of the Indian Institute of Vegetable Research located in Uttar Pradesh told Gaon Connection.
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The new variety of greens has been developed from a wild variety. “The karemua greens usually grow wild only in the rainy season around ponds, lakes and rivers,” the principal scientist said.
“But, there are a few drawbacks of harvesting and eating these wild greens as one never knows what pollutants the water bodies they grow around have in them that could contaminate the leaves. Also, if there is too much rainfall, then harvesting the greens becomes difficult,” the scientist added.
Called Kashi Manu, the spinach, once planted, gives several yields.
The scientists at the Varanasi-based institute therefore developed a variety of the same greens in the laboratory, which can now be cultivated in farmlands like the other greens are grown. “There is no more need to grow them only near the water bodies,” he explained.
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More popular greens such as spinach and fenugreek are harvested mainly in the winters. “The summer months have a dearth of greens. But with Kashi Manu, its growth increases with the increase in temperature. It grows well in the rainy season too and it is pest-resistant compared to the other greens,” Dubey said.
The seeds of the Kashi Manu greens have been distributed to farmers in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Punjab, Bihar and Jharkhand. In Uttar Pradesh, farmers are now beginning to grow it in the districts of Varanasi, Mirzapur, Sonbhadra, Chandauli, Ghazipur, Jaunpur, Ayodhya, Bandha and Kushinagar, among others. The farmers have reported a bountiful harvest from them.
According to the agricultural scientists, there can be a yield of 90 to 100 tonnes of the green per hectare of land. The cost of production is about Rs 1,40,000 to Rs 1,50,000 per hectare. The greens sell for anything between Rs 15 and Rs 20 a kilogram (kg). So the annual income of the farmer from the produce can go up to Rs 15,00,000 per hectare.
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“It is a profitable venture for the farmers because the input costs are just once and not too high while the profits are handsome,” Dubey pointed out.
The seeds of Kashi Manu can be obtained from the Indian Institute of Vegetable Research, Varanasi. The seeds can be sown in a bed of soil or on weirs, and can be harvested several times a year. In the summer months, the greens have to be harvested once in 15 days.
