Author: Uday Mahurkar
Publication: India Today
Date: August 7, 2006
Introduction: As the Gujarat Government attempts
to tame a wild plant by legalising an industry around it, there is hope that
Kutch's once-famous grasslands could re-emerge from under a carpet of babool
In the Banni region of Kutch, western Gujarat,
there is a move to turn back the ecological clock. It will take unusual means
and Banni, a 2,900-sq-km area, which once epitomised greenery, may never be
the same. But, there is hope still that the damage done to what once claimed
to be Asia's largest pasture can be redressed, even if to a small degree.
The culprit, wild babool now covers the grasslands
of Banni, having been introduced into the local ecosystem by the erstwhile
rulers of Kutch and Saurashtra five decades ago. It was imported from Mexico
to arrest the advance of the desert and protect coastal crops from harmful
saline winds. But for the past three decades, the babool plant (prosopis juliflora)
has turned out to be an environmental monster, growing at lightning speed,
enveloping the farmlands and rendering them infertile. It wiped out the grass
cover of Banni, depriving cattle of their sustenance and devastating the local
economy. The groundwater table in Banni dropped, too, given that babool guzzles
enormous quantities of water as it spreads over dry terrain. Locals call the
plant gando baval (mad/bad babool) because of its harmful effects on the ecology.
A year ago, however, things changed when the
Gujarat Government legalised the business of making charcoal from wild babool.
This charcoal is of high quality, and is much in demand as fuel by industrial
units. The decision has changed the economy of the region; it may soon begin
to impact its ecology.
The charcoal business has become a source
of handsome livelihood for the 20,000-strong population of Banni and those
residing in the adjoining areas. Everyday, 1,000 tonne of charcoal-priced
around Rs 700 a tonne in Gujarat and Rs 1,000 in other states-is transported
out of Kutch, its quality a big draw for the factories of Punjab and Haryana.
The business has generated income for both owners and labourers. For instance,
Vaiyar Sumar Jat of Bagadia village today earns Rs 250 daily, a jump from
Rs 50.
Meghrajji Jadeja, a farmer of Banni's Bibbar
village, says, "Had this scheme been implemented two decades ago, the
damage to Banni's eco-system could have been prevented." Chief Minister
of Gujarat Narendra Modi hopes to replicate the scheme in the entire state.
"We are implementing this project across Gujarat to save large tracts
of otherwise cultivable land from babool," he says. Adds environmentalist
Kandarp Katju, "The plant had affected all of Gujarat and many other
states. If replicated this project can revive the grasslands in not just Kutch
but elsewhere, too."
However, legalising the charcoal business
is not devoid of risks. Once the number of babool plants starts declining,
villagers might start growing more of it in the hope of making big money from
charcoal. It would then negate the very purpose of the exercise. Besides,
controlled growth of babool helps farmers block dry and saline winds and aids
the survival of standing crops in coastal, as well as desert areas. A government
order prohibits cutting of wild babool within two kilometre of the coast but
not in plantation areas bordering the desert. Clearly, the government's work
is not complete despite the success of the scheme. The grasslands of Banni
will be able to recapture their old glory only through relentless vigil.
