Focus: Prelims, GS-III: Agriculture (Technological advancements related to Agriculture)
Why in News?
Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Ministry of Science and Technology said that the ‘Purple Revolution’ originating from Jammu & Kashmir offers attractive StartUp avenues and those who have entered the lavender sector are making a fortune out of it ,but what is required is a wider publicity and awareness about these new opportunities of livelihood rolled out in recent years.
What is Purple Revolution (Under Aroma Mission)?
- Under the Aroma mission – First-time farmers were given free lavender saplings and those who have cultivated lavender before were charged a nominal amount.
- The Aroma mission aims to support domestic aromatic crop based agro economy by moving from imported aromatic oils to homegrown varieties.
- Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine, Jammu (IIIM Jammu), the two bodies are mainly responsible for making purple revolution under the Aroma Mission a success.
- Apart from being in sync with government policy of doubling farm incomes by 2022, lavender cultivation also provided employment to the district’s women farmers thus gave impetus to inclusive growth.
More about Aroma Mission
- The CSIR Aroma Mission is envisaged to bring transformative change in the aroma sector through desired interventions in the areas of agriculture, processing and product development for fuelling the growth of aroma industry and rural employment.
- The nodal laboratory is CSIR-Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (CSIR-CIMAP), Lucknow. The participating laboratories are CSIR-Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology (CSIR-IHBT), Palampur; CSIR-Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine (CSIR-IIIM), Jammu etc.
- The mission will promote the cultivation of aromatic crops for essential oils that are in great demand by the aroma industry.
- It is expected to enable Indian farmers and aroma industry to become global leaders in the production and export of some other essential oils on the pattern of menthol mint.
- It aims to provide substantial benefits to the farmers in achieving higher profits, utilization of waste lands and protection of their crops from wild and grazing animals.
- The scientific interventions made under the Aroma mission project would provide assured benefits to the growers of Vidarbha, Bundelkhand, Gujarat, Marathwada, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and other states where farmers are exposed to frequent episodes of weather extremes and account for maximum suicides.
Uses and Products of Lavender
- Main product is Lavender oil which sells for at least Rs. 10,000 per litre.
- Lavender water, which separates from lavender oil, is used to make incense sticks.
- Hydrosol, which is formed after distillation from the flowers, is used to make soaps and room fresheners.
