Food insecurity issue of Thar never taken seriously to overcome through sustainable steps, developing Ber orchards in region is a high potential option to increase local food diversity and reduce food insecurity in region, said experts of Arid Zone Research Centre (AZRC) Umerkot in a conclusion ceremony of training for farmers on Ber grafting techniques and orchard management in Thar.
Dr. Azizullah Shah the senior director PARC-AZRC expressed that some fruits have high nutrition values but mostly those fruits always ignored because of their low prices while on is Ber which has extraordinary qualities, at nutrition values, Ber is considered an alternative for apple.
Ber is tasteful and nutritive to the poor and especially in drought prone Thar area, this is a high potential source for food diversity. He further added that Ber is also a useful source of animal fodder including camels, cattle and goats readily eat the leaves.
Therefore, developing orchards in Thar region not only support to reduce food insecurity in area but also would be better option for fodder of animals.
Dr. Muhammad Siddique Depar, PSO, PARC-AZRC pointed out that it is a rich source of nutrients both in fresh and dry form of Ber. The biochemical analysis of fresh fruit shows that 100 gram of the fruit has 81.6-83g of moisture, 26.6mg ash, 0.76-1.8mg iron, and 65.8-76mg of ascorbic acid. In case of dried fruit, 100 gram of edible portion contains calories, 473/lb (1041/kg), moisture, 68.1g, protein, 1.44g, fat, 0.21 g, carbohydrates, 2.47 g, sugar 21.66 g and fibre 1.28 g. He further added that ber is along with nutrition values, medicinal very supportive.
Muhammad Waseem Kalroo, senior scientist conducted training of Ber grafting and practical work. He shared basic techniques, types and steps of grafting. He had conducted practical work of Ber grafting in AZRC farm.
The Ber tree morphology and ecology has high tendency survival ratio in arid or semi-arid areas.
Developing Ber orchards in Thar region is a best idea and initiative to reduce food insecurity, enhance livelihood opportunities and fodders for livestock in Thar region.
This initiative would boost local economy and help to decrease poverty level of Thar region.
The training of Ber grafting was organized by Association for Water, Applied Education & Renewable Energy (AWARE) with support of terre des hommes (tdh) at Arid Zone Research Centre (AZRC) at Umerkot. Total 24 trainees participated in training from ten villages of union council Kantio and Rural Chachro, district Tharparkar.
The aim of training was to train local farmers for Ber grafting and developing Ber orchards in Thar region. Under this collaborative initiative 3000 local Ber trees will be grafted with improved variety of Gola Ber that has more market and nutrition value.
On the occasion; Dr. Rahib Jalalani, Ali Akbar Rahimoo, Vijay Kumar Malhi and other shared their views about the importance of creating local food diversity base in Thar instead or supplying food supplements from other areas.
There is a huge demand of dried Ber in market, so in future Thari farmers can also get benefit of that if Ber fruit is dried and supplied to marker, the speakers shared their views in concluding the training event.