Punjab’s juicy story is a citrus adventure

The council takes over the farmers’ land on lease for 12 years and begins investing in it. At the end of the lease period, the farmer gets back his land along with a fully grown orchard that ensures high returns year after year for a lifetime. The council also hikes the lease amount by 20 per cent every three years.

Under another option, “for the first six years, the farmer gets an annual hike in the lease amount. For the next five years, he gets the option to share profits with the council on a 50-50 basis”, said VS Chimni, CEO of the council. The minimum land required under this option is 10 acres. “The entire management of the proposed orchards— from land preparation, drip irrigation, plant varieties, fertiliser and pest control to technical know-how — is the council’s headache. Pepsi is our technical support partner,” he said.

So why citrus? Experts say, besides the high yield and returns to the farmer through the orchards, the growing citrus cultivation in Punjab will eventually prove to be a remedy for the dipping underground water level. “Citrus plantation consumes 120 times less water than the traditional paddy crop,” Chimni said, adding that in some areas in the state, the water table has fallen to nearly 260 feet and is dipping by at least five feet every year. Also, given that large areas in the state are high on Ph, citrus plantations are increasingly in vogue.

Council experts say the citrus orchard management project involves sowing high-yield variety of citrus plants. “We have put to use six citrus varieties selected from 32 varieties imported from California and the US,” Chimni said. “Our plant variety, he said, yields at least four-five times the traditional ones. The kinnow, for instance, gives a yield of 7-8 tonne per acre against our variety that gives a yield of 25-30 tonnes.” The council has imported the Clemenules, Fortune, Daisy, Moro Blood, Early Gold, Mexican Lime, Eureka Lemon varieties.

The council has already established a citrus nursery spread over 38 acres at Jallowal and Lesriwal. It has five green houses, two screen houses and net houses. At present, the nursery has a capacity of 10,00,000 plants annually, with a planting out capacity of around 8,000 acres annually. The Tata Energy Institute Research (TERI), the council said, is supplying tissue-cultured rootstock plants to strengthen the nursery production programme.

While citrus management has spread in the state in an organised manner ever since the council was established in February this year, in Punjab, rapid citrus growers have been around for long. Currently about 50,000 acres is under citrus cultivation producing about 3,00,000 tonne of fruit, mostly kinnow.

Experts say the kinnow grown in Punjab was developed in California in the 1930s but this is slightly bitter and not easy to peel. On the other hand, US growers have access to improved citrus scion varieties and much better quality of rootstock which gives 20 to 40 tonne per acre. These are easy to peel and consist of specific processing and table varieties.

Punjab Agro Juices Limited is also setting up two plants to process 20 tonnes of juice per hour. One of the main objectives of this project is to encourage farmers to grow processing varieties of citrus and protect them from market fluctuations. “We intend to be the world’s largest producer of citrus fruits in the next 5-6 years. This, by covering over a hundred thousand acres by then,” Chimni said.

The concept first took root in Hoshiarpur and Abohar where a large number of farmers leased land to CC&AJP.

Kuljit Singh Sidhu, a retired IAS officer and a farmer now, has given three plots to CC&AJP for developing orchards on his land. He has provided 20 acres near Chandigarh, 18 near Phillaur in Jalandhar and nine in Kotali village near Humbra in Ludhiana.

Bhupinderpal Singh Dhillon, an advocate in the high court and a farmer, has given 11 acres (where he used to grow cotton and wheat) for developing orchards in Satuhiwala village in Mukatsar district. He added that for the first six years, he would get Rs 10,000 per acre annually and from seventh year he would get 50-50 share. “I feel safer about giving my land on lease as the council is in the picture and we are not dealing with a private company,” said Dhillon.

CC&AJP to help develop orchards

Comprehensive Citrus Orchard Management Programme that de-risks the small farmers and offers assured returns, including cash support and sharing of profits. CC&AJP said already 2,000 acre land from the farmers have been taken for developing orchards in Hoshiarpur district and in Abohar. The farmer has two options to choose from:

• Council will take the farmer’s land on rent for 12 years, give sustenance to the owner based on the soil quality with guaranteed enhancement of the rent at 20% after every 3 years

• Council will take the land on rent for 12 years, pay sustenance based on soil quality for first the 6 years, with guaranteed enhancement at 2% and for the balance 6 years, the net profit from the sale of fruits would be shared on 50-50 basis with the farmer

The minimum land required under this programme is 10 acre and Rs 8,000 to 12,000 per acre will be given per annum to farmers depending on the quality of soil.