Lavender fields in a village in northern India are filled with purple. Photo: the Guardian According to the Guardian, the village of Lehrote became famous when a farmer named Bharat Bhushan – 43 years old, won the prestigious award for innovation in the field of farming from the Indian Institute of Agricultural Research. This is one of the organizations promoting the campaign to deal with climate change and its impact on the agricultural sector. Lavender is a good drought tolerant plant that can grow and grow on poor soil, does not need a lot of water and loves the sun. “I started growing lavender in 2010 during the Indian Institute of Integrated Medicine campaign in Jammu. This is a very easy plant and doesn’t need a lot of watering. I only use cow manure to fertilize the plant.” Mr. Bharat Bhushan shared. According to Bharat Bhushan, there are more than 500 farmers in this area growing lavender. He also prepared two nurseries for breeding this flower. From now on, this village has become an area specializing in growing and distilling lavender. Domestic demand for lavender essential oil remains quite high and growers like Bharat Bhushan often sell the distilled essential oil directly to customers in cities in India such as Mumbai and Delhi. “The easy-to-grow nature of lavender makes it popular with farmers. The income from lavender cultivation is much better than from other crops like corn. One hectare of lavender land has. can help farmers get 30-45 liters of essential oil, “said senior scientist Sumeet Gairola. Recently, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) announced the expansion of the “Fragrant Mission” campaign with the participation of farmers from northern Indian states such as Uttarakhand, Nagaland and Asam. Thus, fields of flowers filled with purple hues are likely to soon become a popular sight across India.

Lavender plants do not need too much water. Photo: Guardian

The Guardian (UK) reported that at the end of June and the fields in the village of Lehrote in Doda in Jammu were filled with purple with a characteristic strong scent of lavender. More than 200 farmers here have turned to lavender, starting the local “purple revolution”.

Lavender plants can be grown and grown in nutrient-poor soil, do not need much water but love the sun.

The Indian Agricultural Research Institute has presented the prestigious Bharat Bhushan farmer (43 years old) award in the village of Lehrote. Mr. Bharat Bhushan said: “Lavender is very easy to grow and does not require much watering. I also only use cow manure to fertilize the plants ”. In just 2 years, his income was 4 times higher than the previous time when growing corn.

“Seeing my success, many people followed and now there are over 500 farmers in the area growing lavender,” said Mr. Bhushan. He now has a machine to extract essential oils from lavender. One hectare of lavender land can help farmers get 30-45 liters of essential oil.

Mr. Bhushan also shared: “Domestic demand for lavender essential oil is still quite high. We sell distilled essential oils directly to industrial customers in cities in India such as Mumbai and New Delhi. We also sell lavender to the dried flower dealer or to soaps and room fragrances.

Mr. Bhushan was inspired to grow lavender from a video of a 2016 conference in which Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) launched a program called “Mission Scents” to encourage Farmers affected by climate change cultivate crops such as lavender, lemongrass, rosemary and medicinal plants like ashwagandha …