When zucchini comes to Mewat

Farmers are using innovative trench technique to grow the European vegetable they call jugni,and are earning a good profit; none of them aware of its real name

Visit Mewat in Haryana in the month of November and the air will be rife with the talk of the sowing of jugni. For the last three years,this particular variety of bottle gourd has caught the attention of farmers in the region. Grown between November and March by an innovative trench farming method,the vegetable has gained huge popularity not just due to the lucrative returns but also for its relatively shorter growth span that enables farmers to get an early crop.

Jugni,a long dark green bottle gourd,seems to have been discovered accidentally by a farmer who had brought its seed from Delhi and decided to experiment it. Thousands of acres in Mewat are now devoted to this crop every November with the first stock reaching the market by February. With prices ranging from Rs 100 per kg to Rs 40 per kg in the wholesale market,it is certainly far more than what the farmers get for their regular bottle gourd.

Its an English vegetable and for some reason very popular among the people living in the cities, says Azgharji,who was one of the first to start jugni farming.

Azgharji,like all others,is unaware that the vegetable that they have christened jugni is actually zucchini,the exotic European import that is now a near household name among upwardly mobile city slickers. I do know that this vegetable has a little different name. It was there on the seed packet but none of us could pronounce it; it sounded like jugni and thats what it is called now here, adds Mohammad Harul,who grows this vegetable on his two acres of land every year. The vegetable fetches a very good price in the wholesale market in the beginning and we sell it for Rs 40 per kg,which is a lot,for a long time. At the fag end of the season,it comes down to Rs 10 per kg,but by then we have usually earned a good profit, says Yasir Hussain,who produces 100 quintals of zucchini on his five acres.

It is not just the desi name that they have given to the exotic vegetable from Europe,but they have also been quite innovative with its cultivation. A farmer told me that since it is very cold in the winters when the seed is sown,inhibiting its growth,they soak the seed in water during the day and lay it next to them as they sleep at night,to give it the required warmth. Once the seed sprouts,it is planted in the trenches, says Dr I P Abrol,Director,Centre for Advancement of Sustainable Agriculture,Delhi,who has been interacting with the farmers and advising them on agricultural practices. Its these practical innovations that sometimes work better than laid down researches as far as the farmers are concerned, he adds.

According to Abrol,most of these farmers in Mewat are actually from Rajasthan. They come here,take land on lease,grow the crops,sell them and then go back with the profit. Of late,locals have also joined in,though, he says.

Trench farming

Trench farming is a different method of cultivation (for vegetables) whereby the seed is sown in a 3-foot-deep trench and organic matter covers it. To protect the seed from the chilling wind (which leads to freezing of the dew drops on the surface),the trenches are covered with an arid grass,poola (local name),which reduces the velocity of the wind. The grass also acts as a barrier to check soil erosion. The eroded sand particles can even deteriorate the quality of the produce. Once the plant grows to a point that it appears above the surface,these barriers (tall grasses) are spread on the surface and left to degrade,adding organic matter to the soil.