sreepvfkrishna@gmail.com Agricultural Research Grant Awardee 2024
Integration of Lavender in High Density Apple Production Systems for Enhanced Farm Profitability and Sustainable Agro-Ecosystems
Dr Shahid Rasool,
CSIR-Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine, Jammu
The global agrarian landscape has witnessed transformational changes as a result of development of new and improved cultivars, advanced crop production systems, automation of farm operations, access to affordable agri-inputs, efficient irrigation systems, improved packaging, and automated storage systems. Since past more than two decades, intensive cropping systems like high density plantations based on the cultivation of a single crop have been preferred to more diverse, self-sustaining agro-ecosystems, regardless of the environmental consequences. Even with these high density single cropping systems, otherwise designed to maximize production per unit area, yield plateaus in most of the crops have been witnessed besides the deteriorating impacts on the natural resources like soil health, water quality, and subsequently human and animal health. Adoption of mitigation approaches to overcome the adverse effects of the constraining factors and optimal land use and efficient resource utilization becomes imperative for achieving sustainable quality crop yields and promising farm economic indices. In the context of sustainable and highly remunerative crop production systems, multiple cropping complemented with integration of different farm enterprises augments the resource use efficiency and helps maintain the ecological balance of the farm holdings.
Our endevour aims at translating a novel production system that leverges the integration of high density apple production systems with high value industrial crops and apiculture. The project involves front-line demonstration of sustainable crop production systems through Apple-Lavender inter-cropping in High Density Apple orchard systems through farmer participatory approach. In light of the growing challenges of global warming and climate change, to achieve quality and sustainable crop yields in the highly unique Horti-Ecosystems, Apple-Lavender inter-cropping integrated with Apiary offers great promise to the farmer families through enhanced income generation, input use efficiency and overall higher profitability of the production system. Based on our research outcomes of the production model development and deployment undertaken at CSIR IIIM, the integration of apiculture and cultivation of lavender will create a unique agro-ecology in the high density apple plantation systems through reduced pest and disease incidence, ecosystem enhancement for pollinators. Considering the vast expanse of land under different horti-based production systems, the successful implementation of the project and demonstration of the novel production system will serve as a model for further expansion to newer areas and will have far reaching promising economic and environmental implications.
