This Hardy Desert Fruit Faces Threats, Putting Women’s Incomes At Risk

Her wrinkles stand out. She is wearing a long, elaborate ghaghra (skirt), her head is covered with an odhni (traditional head scarf). A gold-coloured forehead pendant in the parting of the hair, a chunky gold neckpiece, a gold nose ring, silver bangles and anklets complete her look. Seventy-year-old Ganga Devi loves her traditional Rajasthani get up.

A resident of Melba village in Rajasthan, she shares with Mongabay India the interesting story behind her ornaments. “When we were growing up, there were only ker bushes all around. In March-April, our whole day was spent in plucking, boiling and drying ker. We used to sell them at Rs. two per kg. I used that bonus money and got these ornaments made for me and my family,” she says in the typical Rajasthani dialect. “Today, like the gold, the price of ker has also increased to Rs. 1,200 (per kilo),” says Ganga Devi, talking about the dry berry-like fruit of ker (Capparis decidua), which is a widespread desert plant in Thar.

The dry climate of the Thar desert limits the availability of fresh green vegetables and that has led to the practice of eating dried components of trees and plants throughout the year. These include plants such as sangri, kumtia and ker. Ker is found in abundance on the farm boundaries, forests, pastures and barren land.

According to an estimate, ker is spread over 3,540 sq km in Bikaner and Jodhpur districts of Rajasthan. Its estimated annual production is 7,000 tonnes. This plant survives very high temperatures of up to 50 degrees Celsius and very low rainfall of 150 to 600 mm.

Income for women

Many women and girls are involved in plucking of ker berries from thorny bushes. They then boil and sell them in nearby markets. This gives them a regular source of income and helps them run their families.

Shravan Patel, a resident of Melba village in Jodhpur, who works for wildlife conservation in Rajasthan, says, that one can pluck ker worth Rs. 10-15,000 in a year.

Bhagirath Chaudhary, the founder of Jodhpur-based South Asia Biotechnology Centre, tells Mongabay India, “Women who have no means of livelihood, pluck ker from the bushes, dry them and prepare homemade recipes. They then sell these in nearby small markets which are completely unorganised.”

Now, efforts are being made to prepare more food items from ker and the work is being taken forward by women self-help groups.

Suresh NV, an assistant professor at the Agricultural Research Station in Jalore, is working on a project commissioned by the central government’s Department of Science and Technology. At present, 60 women in four groups are making different products from ker. “We are working on the value addition of ker. Apart from making packets of dry ker, women are making berry chocolates from wet and dry ker. Ker powder, digestive powder, digestive tablet and chutney are also being made. Our aim is to eliminate intermediary agents from the Ker business and empower women economically,” he tells Mongabay India.

Elaborating on the business prospects, Peera Ram, who is associated with the Aamloj Self Help Group in Jalore, says, “Suppose, some women together collect 10 kg of wet ker, then we buy it at the market price and this amount is transferred to their accounts.”

Santu Devi, who is associated with one such self-help group, tells Mongabay India that she, along with four other women, has been plucking ker for the last two years. “Depending on the price, we pluck Rs. 30-50,000 worth of ker in a year. This easily sustains our work for four to five months.”

However, this option for women to earn an income is now teetering on the edge with threats to ker which is impacted by changes in agricultural land use, the increased use of water, and rapidly changing weather.

More research needed

The specialty of ker is that it grows on its own. Attempts to grow it in a controlled environment like sangri have not been successful. Ker has no leaves and the branches are thin. Dheeraj Singh, the head of the Division of Integrated Farming Systems at the Central Arid Zone Research Institute (CAZRI) says that this is the plant’s natural mechanism to tolerate the extreme heat of the Thar.

Research is going on at the Jodhpur-based Dry Forest Research Institute to preserve ker in a controlled environment. Ilham Bano, a scientist associated with this work, tells Mongabay India. “Very few plants survive in polybags in nursery and even the plants that survive in the field trials are completely destroyed. Therefore, a root trainer was used in which plants were grown by connecting PVC pipes to protect the roots. Plants grown in this way survived in the nursery and the field as well.”

However, Chaudhary of the South Asia Biotechnology Centre, tells Mongabay India, that more research is needed on this shrub. He says, “This plant is a victim of neglect. It has not been researched at any of the institutions. I urge the ICAR (Indian Council of Agricultural Research) to make it mandatory to conduct research on ker at institutes like the Central Institute of Arid Horticulture (CIAH) at Bikaner or Jodhpur-based Central Arid Zone Research Institute (CAZRI).”

Local people also consider exotic babul to be a reason for the disappearance of the ker tree. Babul grows faster and more aggressively compared to ker. “It grows around any local tree (ker khejari). When sheep and goats graze on this, they end up spreading the seeds to other places. The local trees have been getting destroyed over the past seven-eight years,” says local resident Patel.

But Chaudhary does not agree with this. He says, “If this was the case, then the ker tree should have been completely destroyed, because the babul has been in Rajasthan for the past 70 years. Ker trees are also found in abundance where the babul grows. For instance, in Barmer. In fact, no research has been done yet on the extinction of ker. It should be made a mandatory crop in the institutions related to dry forests of Rajasthan and research on it should be accelerated.”

Agricultural land changes impact ker

The increasing scope of cultivation is also a major reason for the gradual disappearance of ker.

“The distribution of ker has reduced due to modernisation in agriculture. Earlier, there were bunds on the fields, but now they are disappearing and fencing is taking its place,” says Vikas Pawadia, a professor at Nagaur Agricultural University, who is helping with work of Rajasthan Ker Production and Processing Development Society which has applied for a GI tag for ker. “We have demanded GI tag on the basis of origin. This bush is also found in Pakistan and Afghanistan, but it is more widespread in India. We want to save this speciality of Rajasthan.”

In many areas of Thar, due to the presence of canals or tube wells, farming is being done twice a year. Due to this, the moisture in the soil is increasing and the roots of ker have started rotting. However, Singh also cites increasing population and human activities as the reason for this. He says, “Wherever ker grows, it grows in clusters. But the farmer needs open land. The farmer does not leave any part of the field vacant. Therefore, farming and ker cannot go together.”

Tiloka Ram Godara, a farmer from Shriram Nagar near Osian in Jodhpur district, got four-five big bushes of ker removed from the boundary of his 80-acre field. He says, “Because of the bushes, animals like wild boars made their home in it. Due to this, there was always a fear of crop damage and attacks.”

On the other hand, due to increasing population and development projects, pressure on forests is also increasing in Rajasthan.

According to research, among all the 14 major deserts around the world, the Thar region saw the highest increase in population during 2000-2020. This increase ranges from 50 to 800 percent. In the Thar region, this increase is evident from the expansion of urban areas and croplands. Availability of water also played an important role in the expansion of agriculture.

On December 18 last year, the Supreme Court had said that protecting some areas as a forest under the Forest (Protection) Act was “essential to maintain both ecological stability and cultural heritage.” In Rajasthan alone, there are about 25,000 forest areas which are spread over about 6,00,000 hectares. There are about 1,100 big forest areas in the state, which have an area of more than 1,00,000 hectares and they provide livelihood to the rural population.

Climate impacts

The fruit of the ker tree, like the tree itself, thrives in hot, dry environments. Bano says, “The more the heat wave blows, the more fruits it bears.”

Vijay Krishna Soni, who sells dry vegetables in Osian market, narrates the traditional knowledge related to ker. He says, “Our ancestors used to say that if there is more rain, the yield of ker will be less. If there is less rain, the yield of ker will be more. For the last two-three years, there has been good rainfall in Rajasthan, so the yield of ker is decreasing.”

Due to all these reasons, the price of ker has seen a huge jump in recent years. This year, wet Ker was sold at Rs 250 to Rs 300 per kg. The price of dried ker is between Rs 1,000 and Rs 3,000 per kg. The finer the ker is, the higher is its price. Five years ago, fine Ker was sold for Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,200 per kg. This year, fine ker is sold for up to Rs 2,000 per kg.

Soni says, “One kilo of wet ker reduces to 100 grams after drying and fetches a price of up to Rs 2,000 per kilo. Therefore, farmers earn more profit after selling wet ker. There are two advantages—less labour is required and pickle making companies also buy wet ker and stock it.”

Ramswaroop Chandak, the president of the Nagaur Sukha Saag Methi Patta Vyapar Mandal began trading in dried greens about two decades ago and believes that since then, ker production has halved. In his view, there are two major reasons for this — one, the increasing network of roads for which the bushes of ker growing on the roadsides are removed; second, the effect of weather.

This year, unlike last year, the weather also affected the ker crop. Chandak tells Mongabay India, “The flowers fell due to storms and cold in April. Therefore, the market is brisk. In wholesale, fine Ker is being sold for up to Rs. 1,600 per kg.”

Ugma Ram Bhati, a farmer of Saleu village in Nagaur, also confirms this. He says, “Ker flowers bloom in March. The season of departure of winter and arrival of summer is the best for flowers. This time, it rained and winter was delayed. Due to this, less flowers bloomed.”