Lavender Cultivation as a part of Purple Revolution

Lavender Cultivation as a part of Purple Revolution

Part of: Prelims and Mains GS-2: Government policies and intervention

In News: ‘Lavender Cultivation’ under CSIR-IIIM’s Aroma Mission to be started in Ramban as a part of Purple Revolution.

Aroma Mission

• The Aroma Mission is envisaged to bring transformative change in the aroma sector through desired interventions in the areas of agriculture, processing and product development for fuelling the growth of aroma industry and rural employment.
• Objectives: 
  • To promote the cultivation of aromatic crops for essential oils.
  • To enable Indian farmers and the aroma industry to become global leaders.
  • To provide benefits to the farmers in achieving higher profits, utilization of waste lands and protection of their crops from wild and grazing animals.
  • Provided employment to women farmers
• Nodal Agencies: CSIR-Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (CSIR-CIMAP), Lucknow.
• Aromatic Plants include 
  • Lavender
  • Damask rose
  • Mushk bala, etc.

• Projects include

• • Lavender oil which sells for at least Rs. 10,000 per litre
  • Lavender water, which separates from lavender oil, is used to make incense sticks.
  • Hydrosol, which is formed after distillation from the flowers, is used to make soaps and room fresheners.
  • Coverage: The project assured benefits to the growers of Vidarbha, Bundelkhand, Gujarat, Marathwada, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and other states where farmers are exposed to frequent episodes of weather extremes and account for maximum suicides.

• Outcomes:

• • Bring about 5500 ha of additional area under captive cultivation aromatic cash crops particularly targeting rain-fed /degraded land across the country
  • Provide technical and infrastructural support for distillation and values-addition to farmers/growers all over the country
  • Enabling effective buy-back mechanisms to assure remunerative prices to the farmers/growers
  • Value-addition to essential oils and aroma ingredients for their integration in global trade and economy’

Update: 

• During Phase-I CSIR helped cultivation on 6000 hectares of land and covered 46 Aspirational districts across the country. More than 44,000 persons have been trained and several crores of farmers’ revenue generated. 
• In the second Phase of Aroma Mission, it is proposed to engage over 45,000 skilled human resources with the aim of benefitting more than 75,000 farming families across the country.

News Source: PIB