Date Palm cultivation
Dear Mr Mathew,
We refer to our enquriy for TC date palms for plantation in Andhra Pradesh.
We take this opportunity to introduce Atul Ltd, a member of Lalbhai group based in Gujarat, as a specialty chemical manufacturer with manufacturing facilities in Atul (Valsad, Gujarat), Ankleshwar (Gujarat) and Tarapur (Maharashtra). Our site is spread over 1300 acres of land at Atul, 200 kms north of Mumbai. We have seven businesses viz aromatic compounds, bulk chemicals & intermediates, colors, crop protection, floras, pharmaceuticals & intermediates and polymers. Our sales turnover is more than Rs1800 crore per annum with a team of more than 2600. We have overseas subsidiaries in the UK, USA, Germany, China, Brazil, Vietnam, etc. We have a JV company with M Dohmen GmbH, Germany for production of synthetic textile dyestuffs.
Our Floras department is engaged in production and supply of tissue cultured date palm saplings of various varieties in India. We have two tissue culture laboratories for production of date palm plants. One of our date palm tissue culture production facility is located in the UK while we have also set-up a world class Tissue Culture Date Palm laboratory at Jodhpur under a JV company with Government of Rajasthan, based on overseas technology. We have a modern nursery spread over approx 25 acres of land in Jodhpur, Rajasthan and at Atul (District: Valsad), Gujarat and demonstration farms of date palms cultivated by us in 250 acres in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan and in 125 acres in Bikaner, Rajasthan.
Date Palm (Phoenix Dactylifera L), also called the ‘Blessed Tree’ is a very important crop for the arid regions with a long life of more than 80 years. This crop has the potential of changing the economy and ecology of the arid regions. Besides providing food and health it is a means of survival and livelihood as each part of this tree is consumed in daily life by people of arid regions. It is a robust plant which can withstand harsh agro-climatic conditions of high pH, high salinity, high temperature, sand storms, etc. Mass propagation of Tissue cultured Date Palms will help farmer to get better returns per acre, slow down desertification, alleviate microbial development in soil & improve soil condition, generate rural employment, ensure food & nutrition security for the state and save valuable foreign exchange being spent for import of date fruit at present.
Date fruit is one of the most nutritious food with each kilogram of dates containing about 2970 calories against required 3000 calories by an average working human being. It has sugar, proteins, lipids, fibers, vitamins, carbohydrates, etc. It has several medicinal attributes too. Hence it is termed a ‘Complete Food’. It has been the secret behind survival of the Arab community in extreme arid conditions prior to discovery of oil in the Middle East. Incidentally India is the largest importer of date fruit in the world.
As a part of our green initiative 'Greening the Deserts', we started the project of Tissue Culture Date Palm in Rajasthan and Gujarat. Atul is the largest producer of these high quality tissue cultured date palm plants in the world today. We have developed more than 2000 acres of demonstration farms at Jaisalmer & Bikaner districts and farmer fields. We have a full technical team of qualified and experienced field extension personnel, agriculturists & horticulturists, plant pathologists, etc who extend all the required technical assistance for successful cultivation of tissue culture date palm plants in India.
Atul Ltd has been awarded the first prize of the prestigious Khalifa International Date Palm Award 2009 at Abu Dhabi amongst 19 countries contesting these awards, for implementation of the Tissue Culture Date Palm project in India. We have also been awarded prestigious Siemens Ecovatives Award 2010 for 'Earth Care' category for this unique & innovative green initiative of 'Greening the Deserts' through Tissue Culture Date Palms.
We offer more than 15 varieties of tissue culture raised date palm plants and would be happy to supply you secondary hardened tissue cultured date palm plants of different varieties, including Barhee, Khalas, TC males, etc. Our technical personnel can guide your team on the farm development and plantation procedures. Generally speaking you can cultivate 156 date palm plants on 1 hectare land (approx 64 plants in one acre) on 8m x 8m spacing between each plant in every direction.
This crop is a very robust crop and can be maintained through drip irrigation and fertigation through ventury, which can minimize workmen requirement at site.
The tissue culture raised date palm plant has distinct advantages over seedlings or off-shoots:
1. It is certified for male / female gender.
2. It is true-to-type to the variety
3. It has high field survivability.
4. It is free from disease and pest when supplied from our nursery.
5. It gives date fruit of elite premium varieties which can be commercialised at attractive prices.
6. Adequate planting material can be made available for large commercial plantations at any given time of the year.
There are many reasons why you need to consider cultivation of TC Date Palms as a commercial crop. Some of them are listed below for your ready reference:
1. Dates are very nutritious, rich in vitamins,iron and calcium. They are a Complete food which contains vitamins, mineral, carbohydrates, lipids, fiber, etc. One kg of date can give 3000 calories while can adult human being needs approx 2200 - 2500 calories per day. Dates also have medicinal properties. This fruit can be an answer to India's food & nutrition security.
2. India is world's largest importer of dates. It imports more than 3,00,000 MTPA. This is despite thr fact that currently dates are imported only in ripened form and consumed mainly by minority community during Holy Ramadan fasting period. This demand will be multi-fold in future as the fresh fruit will be available in India.
3. Dates have healthy form of sugar and can be processed to down stream products like jams, chutneys, pickles, paste, honey, syrup, shakes, confectioneries, chocolates, vinegar, alcohol, health drinks, as a spice in form of dry dates, etc. Hence an entire food processing industry is anticipated to emerge when there is excess fruit for processing. At present the fruit is not adequate even for consumption as a table fruit.
4. Date Palm plant can be grown in wastelands, provide there are sources for water for irrigation. Hence unused lands can be brought under cultivation. Hence country will benefit from additional cultivation and not crop substitution.
5. Date Palm is a crop of the arid and semi-arid regions. Hence it can with-stand extreme adverse climatic conditions of -5 deg C to 50 + deg C.
6. Date Palm is the most saline tolerant crop amongst all agriculture and horticulture crops. Hence lands / water with higher salinity can also be used for date palm cultivation.
7. Date Palm has not been adopted as a commercial crop in India before untill last 8 to 10 years due to lack of good true-to-type planting material, which has now been achieved by Atul setting up world class facility in Jodhpur and acquiring the world's oldest & most successful one in the UK. Thus there was no scientific cultivation of date palms in India till now. Atul has bridged this gap with elite TC date palm planting material and back-up technical service to farmers and achieved more than 2000 acres plantation in just 3 to 4 years.
8. Return on investment on date palm is very high and it is the most profitable horticulture crop, though initial start-up cost and gestation period is high.
9. Date Palm has a productive life of more than 75 years. Hence once grown, generations can benefit due to it. Due to its long life, it also helps develop sustainable ecology, rather than just creating greenery in some seasons by rain fed crops.
10. Inter-cropping can be taken along-with date palm for initial few years, giving better utilization of land and additional returns, if required.
11. Date Palm cultivation requires less workforce and mechanization of irrigation, fertigation, etc is possible through drip irrigation. More workforce is required during pollination & harvest periods.
12. Every part of the Date Palm tree can be utilized including its leaves.
13. Date Palm is a very hardy crop and has a very high field survivability.
14. On a macro scale, it will help reverse desertification, improve the economy & ecology, generate employment, save foreign exchange by import substitution, help improve ecological balance, improve soil health through microbial actions, provide opportunity for downstrean & related industries like food processing, logistics, packaging, branding, cold storage, generate wealth for the people, etc.
We await your interest and confirmation for requirement of planting materials which need to be booked in advance.
Thanking you,
Yours sincerely,
A.M.Batra
General Manager - Business Development
Corporate Unit
Atul Ltd
PO Atul – 396020
District Valsad, Gujarat
Telephone # 0091 2632 230228
Mobile # 0091 9904200121
Fax # 0091 2632 233669
Email id:
ajitsingh_batra@atul.co.in
