“This” village near Mumbai to plant jamun trees on 10 hectares to fight climate change
“This” village near Mumbai to plant jamun trees on 10 hectares to fight climate change
The plantation has already begun, and on August 2, the district collector and other senior officials will visit the site to plant jamun trees.
August 2, 2024
The District Collector of Thane and other senior officials will undertake plantation drives of jambhul trees in Ambarnath taluka’s Jambhul village as the production of purple sweet-and-tart jamun fruit has drastically gone down on account of urbanization.
The plantation has already begun, and on August 2, the district collector and other senior officials will visit the site to plant jamun trees.
Jambhul (jamun), which is cultivated across 30 villages in Badlapur, in the district is famous and distinctive enough for the district to have received a GI (Geographical Indication) tag for it.
However, with climate change having significantly reduced production in recent years, the sarpanch or headman of Jambhul village in Ambarnath taluka came up with a visionary plan to cultivate the fruit in the village and successfully secured 10 hectares of land for this.
In the coming days, 10,000 jamun trees will be planted across the village. Each tree will be numbered, and the trees will be allocated to every family in Jambhul gaon for care and maintenance.
The District Collector of Thane granted permission for 10 hectares. An HPCL company officer whom the sarpanch had approached for CSR funding to aid villagers in maintaining the plants, has also given the requisite help. With this, the aim is to increase the number of plants to improve climate conditions and boost production, which will support indigenous communities.
The sarpanch envisions that in the future, the families responsible for these trees will earn income from the jamun they produce.
In March 2024, the villages received the GI tag certificate. Aditya Gole of the Jambhul Paris Samvardhan and Samuday Vikas Charitable Trust began the process of obtaining a GI tag for Badlapur’s jamuns. After he approached the Ministry of Commerce and followed up rigorously for two years, scientists from BARC conducted tests of the soil and jamuns across 30 villages in Badlapur.
For the unversed, Jambhul village is 48 km away from Mumbai and on the outskirts of Ambarnath taluka. For the past many years, the Adivasi community in this village has sustained itself through a barter system, exchanging jamuns for food and other necessities.
