Banaskantha (Palanpur)31 minutes ago
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- He planted sandalwood trees and turned his farm into a forest like Karnataka
The quality of entrepreneurship lies in the genes of Gujarati people. Gujaratis are always at the forefront of any new venture, new initiative. Through their hard work, perseverance and patience, Gujaratis have achieved success in any field and are the path to prosperity. Agriculture is the traditional occupation and the main pillar of the rural economy. But in today’s changing currents, the farmers of Gujarat have been upgraded with the combination of modernity and technology in agriculture and are becoming an inspiration and guide for other farmers by abandoning the traditional crops and cultivating new crops experimentally.
85-year-old Muljikaka successfully cultivated sandalwood
Mooljikaka of Ajapur Vanka village of Amirgarh taluka of Banaskantha district has “cultivated Khushboo” at this age and spread the fragrance of sandalwood throughout the panthak. Muljibhai Virsangbhai Desai originally hailed from Jagana in Palanpur taluk. He has a career as a teacher and has also been Sarpanch twice in Jagana village. It is said that Muljikaka has the identity of being a well-known person of this parish because his name is prominent socially as well. After retirement the activity decreases and the rest of the life is spent in devotional or other religious activities, Mooljibhai took the bold step of cultivating sandalwood which is the hallmark of the southern states and has earned a reputation as a sandalwood farmer in the whole diocese.
Sandalwood plantation in Gujarat is 0.45 percent of India’s total plantation
Sandalwood tree is the natural wealth of South Indian states. But in Gujarat too, some rich and enterprising farmers have adopted this farming and laid the foundation of innovative initiatives. Sandalwood cultivation in Gujarat is 0.45 percent of India’s total cultivation. Which is only 80 hectares out of the total area of 17,432 hectares. Muljikaka has planned a long-term income by planting 10 thousand sandalwood trees in 50 bigha land in his farm of Ajapur Vanka village. In the year 2012, he brought 500 sandalwood saplings from Karnataka and started cultivation of sandalwood and today ten thousand trees are spreading their fragrance in the entire Panthak in his 50 wide farm of land.
A sandalwood tree takes up to 15 years to mature
Giving information about sandalwood cultivation, Muljikaka said that one of the characteristics of sandalwood is that it is a parasitic tree, that is, the more sandalwood trees you grow, the more other trees you have to plant near it for its food. Milia dubia i.e. Malabari neem trees are often planted next to sandalwood saplings. Secondly, cultivation of sandalwood requires a lot of patience and grooming. A sandalwood tree takes about 15 years to mature and a distance of 3 × 3 meters is maintained between two sandalwood trees. As many as 270 trees can be planted in one bigha. A farmer starts getting income after 15 years of planting and can earn up to 100 years. From one bigha a year, the farmer gets Rs. 5 lakhs in income. At the end of 15 years Rs. 75 lakhs or more can be obtained as the price of sandalwood in international markets is increasing day by day. But to get this half income one has to sacrifice time and money. Growing sandalwood with all these years of care and treatment and protecting it from theft is very hard work. Small farmers are not able to afford this farming in economic terms. However, some enterprising farmers are now turning to sandalwood cultivation. A subsidy of Rs 30 per sapling is provided by the government to promote sandalwood cultivation.
Muljikaka holds membership of Sandalwood Society of India Raji Bangalore. He attributes his successful cultivation of sandalwood to the policy of the state government and the guidance and inspiration of officials like Ramkumar, Chief Conservator of Forests.
