Call for sandalwood farming to improve growers' income in Himachal Pradesh

Dipender Manta

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Mandi, January 16

The regional-cum-facilitation centre (RCFC) at the Research Institute in Indian Systems of Medicine (RIISM) at Jogindernagar in Mandi district has joined hands with an innovative farmer of Churag to do research work to prepare value-added products of sandalwood to strengthen the economy of farmers in the state.

Farmer Bhup Sharma is a pioneer in sandalwood cultivation in Himachal Pradesh, who has been engaged in this profession for the past 12 years. He is encouraging other farmers of the state to adopt sandalwood cultivation as an additional source of income. With the efforts of Bhup Ram, around five lakh plants of sandalwood have been cultivated in different parts of the state.

Bhup Ram says: “I am developing a nursery of sandalwood plants in an agriculture field at Tattapani under Karsog subdivision to meet the demand of farmers for sandalwood plantation. Sandalwood plantation is feasible in those parts which does not receive snow.”

The oil of sandalwood can be extracted from the sandalwood plant after a gap of 15 years and has high value in the market. So to earn the profits, farmers have to wait for long periods after its plantation. Keeping this in mind, Bhup Ram has requested the Director of the RCFC to do research work on the leaves and flowers of sandalwood plant to prepare its value-added products for marketing purpose.

It will help farmers earn money in early stages after the plantation.

Dr Arun Chandan, Director, RCFC, says: “On the request of Bhup Ram, we have decided to do research work on leaves, flowers and bark of sandalwood to detect its herbal value and prepare value-added products. We will try to prepare the value-added products for marketing.”