Gond katira benefits uses in agriculture

Surprisingly not more people are aware about gond katira tree it is very helpful for water saving in agriculture. Benefits of gond katira are vast and in this post you will read how it can reduce your cultivation cost, especially irrigation cost.

This is not a hidden technique but somehow lots of farmers are not using this technique, through this post I have tried to drag your attention towards our traditional farming values. 

What is Gond Katira

Gond Katira is a type of gum which is obtained from the salt-thorny desert tree of katira. This tree is found in the desert region. Iran is the largest producer of this tree and shiraz gum is also gond katira tree name. This unique product is preferably used in the medicinal department. It has the capacity to absorb a hundred times more water than its weight. 

If you put it in the field, then its moisture will not fly in the air nor will it leak into the ground. Moreover, it also has the ability to absorb the moisture that is in the air. Gond katira price is Rs 210 per kg to 500 and more depending on the variety and platform from where you are purchasing it. 

Gond Katira benefits in agriculture

It reduces the irrigation cycle and where 4 to 5 irrigations are required, work can be done in only one irrigation. 

Once the gond katira is put in the field, its effect remains for three crops. 

Seeds germinate better and plants grow healthy. 

It also reduces the chances of diseases in the crops. 

ICR Former Chief scientist Dr Virendra Singh Lathar has developed a new technique. This technique contains direct sowing of paddy and use of gond katira. 

Cultivation

Through Gond Katira technique various crops can be cultivated and are being cultivated by some of the farmers.

• Apart from paddy
• Wheat
• Gram
• Maize

Seeds under gond katira technique

No special seed is required under this method

But the seeds which require less water or paddy that needs less water to grow or paddy that can be grown in a short time period are preferred for gond katira technique. 

According to farmer narendra singh mehra gond katira is pretty successful in hilly areas due to less time required for hill paddy to grow. 

How to use Gond Katira

Gond Katira uses in agriculture is revolutionary specially for water saving. 

It can be used in two forms 1. for seed treatment 2. for fertility.

For fertility - Gond katira is mixed with fertilizer, at the time of sowing DAP, compost or dung fertilizer is provided to the farm, at that time mix 5 kg gond katira powder per acre.

Seed treatment - The process of seed treatment through gond katira is less costly in comparison to spreading the powder of it in the farm. Arrange acacia, jaggery and water in the below given proportion. 

200 gram acacia + 200 gram jaggery + 1 litre water. 

Keep boiling the above mixture till it becomes 800 gram and when it cools down spray it on 50kg seeds properly. When this mixture sticks to the seed, treat the seed with 2 kg gond katira powder and sow them. 

Benefits of gond katira in reducing disease

Straight sowing of paddy in this method eliminates the possibility of getting flag disease and lilac disease in the fields. 

It also reduces insects and pests.

Paddy crop is often destroyed due to storms, but the stem of the crop planted with the use of gond katira becomes very strong and overcomes this problem as well. Straight Sowing of crops under gond katira technique results in only 1 or almost no irrigation requirement. According to doctor Lathar farmers are taking advantage of this technique on the sand dunes as well. 

Costing of gond katira in paddy crop

According to the farmers normal paddy crop cultivation costing in one acre is nearly 32 to 35000 rupees but after using this gond katira technique the paddy crop cultivation costing reduces and limits to only Rs 5000 to 6000 per acre. This difference occurs because of reduction in irrigation cycles and deduction of labour costing. 

This technique can save 80% of water cost and 80% of labour costs too automatically resulting in less farming costs for various crops. 

About 300 litres of water is consumed for growing 1 kg of paddy. In such a situation more water is consumed and the state governments take the easy route and ask the farmers to plant late crops or advise them to plant other crops. Both of these situations are non profitable situations for farmers because if they plant paddy crops in less quantity then paddy needs to be imported which will increase the price of paddy crop. If farmers shift from paddy crop to any other crop then they need some time to practice the other crop. 

Conclusion - Gond katira is not a new technique it is a traditional technique but farmers have lost this technique because of blind search of new techniques. 

However, this technique is still used in some low rainfall areas and if you are also living in a low rainfall region then you should use this technique once. Hope you are aware of this technique but if you are not aware of it then it is advised to use this technique at least once at your farm.

If you will get some good results then please come back to our website and share your experiences so that it can help some other people as well. If you are not able to produce good results through this technique then also come and share your experience and we will try to find out the solution for you and it will also help others to face various difficulty in this technique.