Bhilwara: Former agriculture minister of Rajasthan, Prabhu Lal Saini, a resident of Aawan village in Tonk district, recently received patents for three date palm varieties from the Indian Agriculture Research Council (ICAR), New Delhi. Saini said it was for the first time in India that patents had been granted for date palm varieties.The former minister applied for patents on Sept 16, 2021, for three varieties developed on his farm: ST-1, ST-2, and ST-3. Saini said these nutritious varieties were developed by him after 10 years of research. Saini said his research revealed that date palm can be cultivated even in saline water. Each plant of the patented varieties produces 80 to 150 kg of dates annually, Saini said.
In Rajasthan, date palm is mostly cultivated in Bikaner, Jaisalmer, Barmer and Jodhpur districts. Saini said that in 2007, when he was the state’s agriculture minister, 25,000 date palm plants from a university in UAE (United Arab Emirates) were brought to Rajasthan for farmers and provided with 90% subsidy under National Agriculture Development Scheme. “When I was agriculture minister in the state, Rajasthan was divided into 10 ‘agro climatic zones’ and agriculture development plans were prepared. Also, many centers of excellence were established across the state, which gave momentum to agriculture,” Saini said.“Earlier, varieties had to be imported from Afghanistan for planting in the country. Now, for the first time, three indigenous varieties have been developed. My objective is to inspire talented farmers of the state to do profitable farming with modern innovations,” Saini said.
