Sirmaur (Himachal Pradesh): In the 1980s, Himachal Pradesh's Sirmaur district was famous all over Asia for ginger production but now it's cultivation is in danger. Ginger was cultivated extensively in the Shillai, Renuka, Pachad and Paonta Sahib constituencies of the district.
Most of the farmers in the region used to make living by cultivating ginger but now the situation has changed. Now people have lost the cultivation of ginger in these areas. The main reason for this is the low prices, no industry-market in the district and rotting diseases of crops.
The farmers here have to sell their crops in the mandis (vegetable market) of Uttarakhand, Haryana, Punjab and Delhi. In such a situation, farmers have to suffer heavy losses. Because of this, farmers have lost their fascination with ginger cultivation.
Himachal ginger which once ruled the roost in Asia is now losing ground. "We don't have any mandi at nearby places where we can sell gingers. This is also one of the reasons for ginger cultivation going down in the area," said one of the farmers. In Paonta Sahib, ginger is cultivated in 237 hectares, but the production of ginger is reduced by 50 per cent due to rotting disease. In such a situation, people of many panchayats of Paonta and Trans-Giri area have stopped ginger cultivation.
Speaking to ETV Bharat, agricultural scientist Dr Akhilesh Singh said that measures are being taken to revive the ginger cultivation. "There is no denying that ginger cultivation is waning although we are trying to revive it once again. We have been organising training camps for farmers to make them aware of different techniques to revive ginger production. Choosing wrong seeds also affects its production. If the farmer selects the seeds correctly, yields of ginger can improve," said Singh.
