The park is protecting/growing 150 plant species, medicinal plants, cacti and succulents, fruit plant, plants of Mexican origin, perennial grasses, ornamental shrubs, perennial grasses, ornamental shrubs, fibre and natural gum resin plants and running the park in 8 hectares, distributed into 32 blocks.
JODHPUR (RAJASTHAN): The Agri-Eco Tourism Park maintained by ICAR-CAZRI (Central Arid Zone Research Institute) of Jodhpur in Rajasthan is transforming the region’s deserts to fertile lands through its research programmes for the past seven decades.
The park is protecting/growing 150 plant species, medicinal plants, cacti and succulents, fruit plant, plants of Mexican origin, perennial grasses, ornamental shrubs, perennial grasses, ornamental shrubs, fibre and natural gum resin plants and running the park in 8 hectares, distributed into 32 blocks.
There exist endangered and medicinally important plant species such as Commiphora Wightii (Guggu), Withania Coagulans (Paneerbandh) and Sarcostemma acidum (Somlata) and plants of economic importance such as Haloxylon stocksil (Khara Lana) and Capparis decidua (Ker).
The sand dune block provides an overview of the checkerboard technique of sand dune stabilization developed by the institute and a ‘know-your-soil’ section in the park consists of soil profiles brought from different parts of the country to educate visitors about different soil types, their nature and properties.
The park remains open for the general public and guided tours are conducted for groups.
Senior scientist of CAZRI, Saurabh Swami, said that more than 15,000 persons have visited AETP during the past 2-5 years. These included farmer groups, students, agriculture, forestry, horticulture and management faculties of different state agricultural universities, trainee forest officers from different states, entrepreneurs and ordinary individuals.
Swami said seven endangered species are being protected and grown in the park.
The Press Information Bureau recently arranged a media tour to the CAZRI plant, which occasioned a closer understanding of the institute's activities. The institute's project monitoring and evaluation head PC Maharana said the institute has done pioneering research on combating desertification through sand dune stabilization and shelter-belt plantations, devising suitable technology for stabilizing sand dunes. This included fencing, protecting the dune area, establishing micro-wind breaks and planting of adapted bushwood material.
The institute's recommendations for shelterbelt plantations for reducing sand movement are well-recognised. Planting of shelterbelts has been done with Neem, Israeli Babool and Desi Babool trees that reduce wind speed by 20 to 30 per cent and consequently wind-induced erosion by about 50 per cent. This also results in conservation of soil moisture and nutrients.
The technology has been adopted for areas stretching 400 km in western Rajasthan and this, at many places, provided a micro-environment for practising agriculture.
Acting director of CAZRI, Suresh Pal Singh Tanwar, said CAZRI established in 1952 at Jodhpur in Rajasthan, aimed at arresting rapid desertification of north-west Rajasthan and protecting the national capital from sand storms. It has now been instrumental in turning the region into an emerging economy.
CAZRI, he said, replicates the role of the CommonWealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation of Australia. It has achieved its primary objective of controlling desertification and helped in increasing the irrigated area for the farming and allied sectors.
Tiwari said the institute has developed several new varieties of crops, grasses and horticulture crops including CZP9802 and CZ-IC 923 of pearl millet, Maru guar of cluster bean, CAZRI Moth bean, Maru Kulthi of horse gram, CAZRI 75, CAZRI358, and CAZRI 2178, which are giving sustainable livelihood to the farming community in Rajasthan.
He felt that in the time of El Nino, Andhra Pradesh can also adopt CAZRI's judicial use and conservation of water to save crops.
