A Beloved ‘Tree Of Life’ Is Vanishing From An Already Scarce Desert

The onion crop on 60-year-old Tiloka Ram Godara’s 80-bigha field ripens in May. There are four-five khejri (Prosopis cineraria) trees growing in the field located near Osian tehsil in Rajasthan’s Jodhpur district. Since the pods (wet or green sangri) on them have grown thick, they have been left for the cattle.

When asked the reason for not plucking these bean pods, he said, “When we were young, there were 20-25 khejri trees in our field. At that time, farming was done only during the four months of the monsoon. Everyone was interested in sangri. There were no other avenues and this was the biggest source of income. Now, thanks to abundant water, farming is done twice. An increase in income has led to decreasing interest in sangri.”

Khejri, the native tree of Rajasthan, is considered the lifeline of Western Rajasthan. The tree, which thrives in the hot and dry climate, was once abundant across the Thar desert.

Khejri trees produce bean-like sangri pods in March-April. Both fresh and dried pods are consumed. There was a time when there were no vegetables in the summer season, so only sangri was eaten. The social, economic and cultural importance of the khejri earns it the title of Kalpavriksha (tree of life) in the desert.

However, in the last few years, the rapid expansion of solar plants, mechanised farming and other developments, along with intensifying impacts of climate change, have sidelined the khejri.

Mining and solar plants nudge out khejri

Junjala is a small village in Nagaur district. Inder Nath, a resident here and the president of the Junjala Dham Temple Committee, farms on about 100 bighas of land, where 70-80 khejri trees grow.

In 2015, six bighas of his land were lost to gypsum mining. “There were five-six khejri trees in my field. All of them were cut down (for mining). Khejri trees are slowly vanishing. Therefore, the production of sangri has reduced to half. There are hundreds of mines in the area, so you can imagine how many khejri trees would have been cut down. The companies do not plant a single new tree here.”

Out of the 79 types of minerals found in Rajasthan, including gypsum, 57 are being mined. The number of mineral leases has also increased rapidly in the last five decades. In 1960-61, there were just 5,713 leases, compared to 33,375 in 2014-15.

Solar energy is also expanding rapidly in Rajasthan. The state ranks first in the country in terms of production of solar energy with an installed capacity of 29,546.70 MW. The Government of Rajasthan aims to increase it to 90,000 MW by 2029-30. Nine solar power parks of 8,276 MW were approved in the state by March 31, 2023. Apart from this, last year, approval was given to allocate 4,780 hectares of land for three solar power parks in Bikaner and one in Phalodi.

However, the exact data about how much land has been given for the solar park so far is not available. Mongabay India had sought information about this from the Rajasthan Renewable Energy Corporation Limited through the Right To Information Act. However, the information was not given, citing Section 2 (J) of the Act.

According to media reports, about 2.5 million trees have been cut in Rajasthan in the last 14 years for 21,000 MW solar energy. About three quarters of these are khejri, rohida and desi babul trees. Experts say they believe that the setting up of solar parks has caused significant damage to the native vegetation.

Anil Kumar Changani, the head of the Department of Environment at MGM University, Bikaner, told Mongabay India, “Wherever solar plants are installed, the vegetation is completely cleared. These include desert trees like khejri, rohida, desi babul, ker and kumtiya, which are essential for the biodiversity here.”

In 2022, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) also took action against a solar energy company for illegally cutting 250 khejri trees on 3,200 bighas of land in Badi Sid village of Phalodi in 2022 and ordered the planting of 10 times more trees.

Dheeraj Singh, the head of the Division of Integrated Farming Systems at the Central Arid Zone Research Institute (CAZRI), looks at biodiversity loss from a larger perspective. “Khejri provides sangri, fodder for animals, wood for tools and houses. It has the ability to fix nitrogen. In the desert, where farmers do not have the capacity to buy fertilisers, it also works as a natural fertiliser,” he told Mongabay India.

The valuable ecosystem services provided by the khejri have prompted a large-scale movement in the last few years, to save native trees. Strikes have been organised in many cities across the Thar. Experts are demanding the withdrawal of the amendments made in the Biological Diversity Act in 2023.

“Earlier in 2023, the Rajasthan State Biodiversity Board had the power to file cases against traditional tree cutters in the state,” Dau Lal Bohra, a member of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), told Mongabay India. Secondly, the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) is not required for solar energy. This has contributed to the decline of the trees, along with the animals dependent on them.

Bhagirath Chaudhry, the founder of Jodhpur-based South Asia Biotechnology Centre, told Mongabay, “The government should legally mandate companies to develop a green belt by planting trees around and within the entire area where the solar plant is being set up. A rule of ‘one (solar) plate one tree’ should be made and implemented.”

Too wet for the khejri

The khejri is the pivot of the rural economy of Thar. One khejri tree offers produce for a period of 80 years, which costs around ₹20-30,000. Apart from this, it also provides oxygen, and habitat for biodiversity. However, due to increasingly erratic weather, higher rainfall, canals and increased water consumption, the ecosystem is changing.

According to a recent study, there has been a 63% increase in monsoon rainfall in the Thar between 2001 and 2023. Singh said, “Too much rain and too much moisture is not conducive for the khejri. In this condition, it is attacked by fungus, bacteria and other micro-organisms and even the biggest trees dry up suddenly.”

In recent years, farmers are also troubled by the problem of the formation of galls or pests on khejri trees after flowering. This hinders sangri production, leaving farmers to suffer huge losses.

Sujeet Yadav, the head of the department of Genetics and Plant Breeding at the Bikaner Agricultural University, links this to climate change and host switching by insects. He said, “Like most insects, the mite Eriophyes prosopidis that attacks the khejri trees is a very small creature. Earlier, the variation in temperature was so much that its eggs could not survive. Today, the eggs can survive even in high temperatures. Earlier, these insects used to thrive on fruit plants. Now they have started growing on khejri trees. Therefore, the insects are becoming very active at the time of formation of pods.”

He associates this problem with the pruning of khejri trees. Yadav said, “These insects do not survive due to high temperatures in regions were khejri trees are pruned regularly. But, where the khejri trees are not pruned, these mites get enough moisture and favourable conditions to thrive.” Yadav has also been nominated as a technical expert for protecting special agricultural products of Rajasthan under the GI tag.

The area under cultivation, and irrigated by canals and tube wells has also grown rapidly in the Thar. Between 1980 and 2015, the area under cultivation increased by 74% and irrigated area by 24%. Irrigation through canals has increased in the northwest region, with tube wells cropping up rapidly after 1990. This has prompted farmers to cultivate crops in the Rabi season along with Kharif.

According to Shivani Bhatnagar, forest entomologist at Jodhpur-based Arid Forest Research Institute (AFRI), the main cause of flower gall in the khejri is infection by a type of mite. Mite infestation is particularly prevalent in areas where there is high humidity due to irrigation from underground sources (like tube wells) or canals — a phenomenon intensified by the increase in rainfall in recent years. Bhatnagar says that in case of severe infection, only 20% of the pods generally emerge on khejri trees.

Sangris begin flowering in March, following which pods emerge in April. Farmer Ugma Ram Bhati of Saleu village in Nagaur considers 35°C to be the most ideal temperature for the growth of sangri. During this time, the direction of the wind is also very important.

Tiloka Ram shared from his experience, saying, “For a good sangri, the wind should blow towards the southwest at the end of March. If the wind is blowing from the northwest, then the flowers fall off.”

Losing to mechanised farming

Mining and solar parks are not the only reasons for the decrease in sangri production. According to research by CAZRI in 2014, khejri trees are rapidly decreasing due to indiscriminate use of groundwater. According to the report, the density of khejri trees per hectare was 90 in rain-fed land in the 1950s and 60s. But in the second decade of this century, their number had decreased to merely 35 per hectare in the 12 dry districts of the Thar.

Singh said, “In the fields, tractors, cultivators, rotavators and disc flow pass very close to the [khejri] trees and plough the land as well as level it. This cuts off the deep roots of these trees. This prevents the trees from getting as much water as they need.”

However, experts like Chhangani also link this to the indiscriminate use of water in solar plants. He said, “A lot of water is needed to clean the solar plates. This need is met from nearby ponds and other natural sources and they now dry up before the monsoon in April-May. Therefore, groundwater is not recharged, affecting the khejri trees.”

Omi Devi of Khetsar village near Osian associates these changes with dietary shifts. “With the abundance of water, green vegetables are growing in abundance. They are very easy to pluck and cook. So, children also want to eat green vegetables,” she says.

(Published under Creative Commons from Mongabay India)