Kinnow man of Maletha now promotes shahtoot

Jotirmay Thapliyal

Tribune News Service

Dehradun, June 26

Maletha in Tehri Garhwal is witnessing empowerment of villagers through horticulture, decades after legendary Madho Singh Bhandari brought water to its parched lands.

It started 14 years ago when Anil Kumar Joshi took 200 nalis on lease from farmers and set up a nursery and started preparing vegetable, tree and fodder saplings. His efforts helped in checking migration from Fatehpur Khankara village in Patti Bachansyu in Rudraprayag where farmers experienced increase in vegetable production.

Joshi’s nursery also played a key role in ensuring production of better quality kinnows in Maletha as he was the one who introduced the Abohar kinnow sapling there in 2009, which has now started giving fruit.

Joshi is focusing on shahtoot this rainy season. He says he has prepared 8 lakh saplings of shahtoot plant that will be cultivated during this rainy season.

Joshi explains the reasons for his emphasis on shahtoot plantation saying the plant has a great survival ability and can grow even on barren land with little water. Shahtoot’s broad leaves are used as fodder for livestock. Shahtoot leaves also play an important role in sericulture, he adds.

He says shahtoot can also be a solution to checking man-animal conflicts. “Wild animals eagerly consume shahtoot fruit and thus its plantation on barren land will help in keeping wild animals away from agriculture fields,” he says.

“Only a few persons know that shahtoot being a broad leaf tree gives a large amount of oxygen and even its wood is used for making agricultural tools,” Joshi adds.

“In 2012, I planted one lakh saplings of the mother plant of the S-146 variety of shahtoot. Again in 2013, three lakh saplings of the mother plant were planted and now 8 lakh shahtoot saplings are ready to be planted during the rainy season,” Joshi adds.

The nursery also has 5 lakh plant saplings of Napier grass, 2,500 saplings of California oranges and 1,000 saplings of kinnu. Joshi has also formed Vanikee Evam Gramin Vikas Sansthan and helps farmers. Today, he is also the horticulture adviser of the Uttaranchal Association of North America, New Jersey.