Bhalia wheat gets its name from the Bhal region of Gujarat, which falls between the districts of Ahmedabad and Bhavnagar in the state. Locally, it is referred to as Daudkhani wheat. For the first time, on July 7, consignments of Bhalia wheat travelled to Sri Lanka and Kenya from Gujarat.
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What makes the Bhalia so special?
“Bhalia wheat, that is grown only in Gujarat, is considered to be highly nutritious, has high protein and gluten content, tastes sweet, and is used to make several other products,” PH Godhani, scientist-in-charge, Agriculture Research Station, Arnej in Ahmedabad district, told Gaon Connection. The research station works under the Anand Agriculture University, Gujarat.
“It has been cultivated in this region for years; it requires no irrigation, and is a rain-fed crop,” Godhani added.
In 2011, Bhalia wheat received its Geographical Indication (GI) tag. The GI tag is given to products of a specific geographical origin that are unique to that area, and have qualities that are attributed to that region.
Cultivation of Bhalia wheat
Bhalia is cultivated extensively over 200,000 hectares across Dhandhuka, Dholka and Bawla in Ahmedabad district; Limbdi in Surendranagar district;Valbhipur in Bhavnagar; Tarapur and Khambhat in Bhavnagar; Matar in Kheda district; and Jambusar and Vagra in Bharuch. The annual yield of the wheat is between 170,000 tonnes and 180,000 tonnes.
The wheat is sown between the end of October and the beginning of November. It is harvested in March-April. The crop draws its moisture from the soil. “The farmers work their fields in such a way that the rain water is harvested, and there is no run off of the water,” Godhani explained.
Rising wheat export
The export of Bhalia is expected to provide a major boost to wheat export in the country. In 2020-21, the total wheat export from India has gone up considerably, to the tune of Rs 4,034 crore (Rs 40.34 billion). The previous year, 2019-20, it was only Rs 444 crore; it has been an increase of 808 per cent.
In 2020-21, India exported 140,000 tonne wheat to Yemen, Indonesia, Bhutan, Philippines, Iran, Cambodia and Myanmar. In 2019-20,the export to these seven countries was only four metric tonnes. The year before that, in 2018-19, no wheat was exported at all to these countries.
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