Kalonji: Sowing the black seeds to reap big profits

HYDERABAD: Every year, Hajan Leghari, a farmer in Village Kandri near Jhudo, spares a small piece of land to cultivate kalonji (Nigella sativa) for its black seeds that have been being consumed as seasoning and as herbal medicine for the last 2000 years – it was found in the tomb of a pharaoh.

“Whenever harvest starts in March our relatives and family friends expect us to give them a little amount of black seeds for use,” Leghari said.

Families would keep kalonji in their kitchens for different purposes, mostly for its health benefits, he said.

Leghari said though agriculture was rapidly changing with the introduction of technology, hybrid seeds for crops, and high density varieties of fruits, some farmers were still cultivating these traditional crops, which needed little water and fertiliser.

“I do not know exactly the health benefits of this plant, but needy people believe this flowering plant is a remedy to multiple diseases and conditions like diabetes, heart problems, digestive problems, obesity, blood pressure, compromised kidney and liver functions and many other health-related difficulties,” he said.

Some people believe kalonji seeds can cure all diseases except death.

A few other families in the village also produce this crop. The leading farmers of the area, possessing hundreds of acres of land seem reluctant to spare a little piece to produce this medicinal crop, which may help local people.

Karam Leghari, another farmer, said they would usually get 8-10 maunds (40kg) per acre yield, which was enough compared to other crops.

Kunri in Umerkot district is the major market for this product, which is accessible to the farmers. They sell kalonji seeds at Rs17,000-18,000 per maund. Sometimes the price goes up to Rs22,000/maund.

Kalonji farmers love to produce this important crop, which has more value in the market. They do not invest more on cultivation but earn enough.

“Looking to such productivity and rate we believe that no crop can beat kalonji in terms of profit,” Karam Leghari said.

Altaf Mahesar, leading a farmers’ network in Dadu district for promoting indigenous varieties of food crops through organic methods, says conventional crops do not require more water and fertiliser and give more yield, benefiting farmers.

He said presently kalonji is being cultivated in various parts of the world, where farmers were earning more profits. “But in Pakistan there is no mechanism at government level to promote these medicinal crops, which in “money terms” are beneficial for farmers and as well as the country,” Mahesar said.

There were some areas, where a handful of farmers were following the practice set by their elders to produce these crops, but in almost all conventional crops, kalonji seemed at a low priority among farmers, he said.

Mahesar said Sindh province was well-suited for growing kalonji in terms of soil and weather. “It is tested to grow these crops, which have a high demand in the market, locally and abroad,” he said adding for example, kalonji might be the most profitable crop, whose prices sometimes reach Rs20,000-22,000/maund.

He said at the time when the entire world farmers were being motivated with little incentives to produce organic crops through traditional methods, here the policymakers look at things differently. “They do not offer incentives to farmers, who have continued producing these neglected crops,” Mahesar said.

It was learnt that mostly farmers prefer to produce major crops, like wheat, sugarcane, rice, chilli and tomato, which sometimes create problems for them.

The kalonji is among less important crops in terms of government support at any level from cultivation to marketing. Growing such crops is an extension of an age-old practice through generations.

Mustafa Nangraj, a researcher and trainer at Sindh Agriculture Extension Department confirmed there was no research on conventional crops, their cultivation, seedling preparation, processing methods, and marketing.

“Farmers want to get more productivity and profit out of the crops and preferring wheat, rice and sugarcane instead of conventional crops.”

“We have almost nine new seed varieties of wheat and some others for rice and almost have replaced traditional varieties because of their low productivity,” he justified.

“We do not have new seed varieties of pulses, because there may be no demand of it at such level so we may motivate farmers to adopt new seeds,” he said, adding that traditional crops like kalonji, isabgol and others are yet to attract government to promote the same with introducing threshing, processing, value addition, and marketing.

In fact, farmers themselves arrange seedling of this crop and follow the old practice to cultivate it. There is need to categorise the crops, putting them priority for research, involving the government departments and farmers for promoting these crops.

Nangraj said hybrid seed varieties of crops and high density fruits were getting popularity in the country, because of their higher profitability compared to traditional crops, which were losing their shine.

“There is a need for further research to promote such medicinal crops like kalonji, which have value and demand in the entire world,” the agriculture department official said.