Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani Tuesday said the state government has proposed to rename dragon fruit as ‘Kamalam’ and patent it. The decision is not sudden and wheels had been set in motion much before this.
Rupani said that calling the fruit dragon fruit “does not sound appropriate” and they have decided to call it ‘Kamalam’ as it has the shape of the lotus flower. He added: “The renaming of the fruit has nothing political about it.”
Where is dragon fruit cultivated in India?
Dragon fruit is a wild fruit-bearing cactus species native to the Americas where it is called pitahaya. The pulpy fruits, which come in varieties like pink and yellow, was introduced to India in 1990s and has been growing in popularity due to its taste and nutrition value. Also, dragon fruit cultivation requires least irrigation and the crop can be grown in almost all types of land. Therefore, farmers in states like Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Odisha, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh as well as Andaman and Nicobar have taken up large scale cultivation. However, India still imports the fruit from Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Sri Lanka etc to meet its domestic demand.
What prompted the move to rename dragon fruit?
In his monthly radio broadcast Mann Ki Baat on July 26 last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi lauded farmers of Kutch for taking up cultivation of dragon fruit and adopting innovative practices. “In Kutch, farmers are making laudable attempts to do farming of dragon fruit… a number of farmers are engaged in this activity today. They are doing lot of innovation to improve the quality of fruit and to improve productivity in smaller pieces of land. I am told that popularity of dragon fruit is growing… Kutch farmers have resolved that India should not import dragon fruits. This is the very spirit of self-reliance,” Modi had said.
Days later, on August 6, Ram Kumar, additional principal chief conservator of forests (social forestry) in the forest department of Gujarat government, forwarded a proposal to the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), proposing to rename dragon fruit as Kamalam. “This fruit has a tremendous potential for cultivation in the country and is rich in vitamins and minerals… it would contribute to reducing our import dependence in line with ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’. To boost awareness and expansion, dragon fruit should be renamed as Kamalam fruit…,” Kumar wrote in the proposal forwarded to the ICAR. The APCCF’s letter covering the proposal was addressed to Dr AK Singh, Deputy Director General (Agricultural Extension) of the ICAR.
Why has APCCF proposed the name Kamalam?
Kumar reasoned that Kamalam (Sanskrit for lotus), name was appropriate given the colour and features of the fruit. “The fruit comes in various colours but the most popularly cultivated variant is the one with pink skin and white flesh inside. The shape and external appearance of the fruit bears resemblance to the lotus… This name would have the advantage of instant connect with the common farmers and thus it is expected to gain wide acceptance pan-India,” said Kumar in his proposal, adding some farmers in Kutch had already started marketing the fruit as Kamalam.
What is the controversy surrounding the name?
Kamalam, coincidentally, is also the name of headquarters of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Koba in Gandhinagar. However, the CM said on Tuesday that there was no politics. Rupani when asked why was the fruit being renamed, had told mediapersons, “Gujarat government has decided that the dragon fruit is not a suitable word. Across the world it is known as dragon fruit and one thinks of China. So we have given the name Kamalam. It is a fruit like the lotus”.
On his part, Kumar underlined in the proposal that while names like dragon fruit, dragon pearl fruit, pithayan, strawberry pear, night-blooming cereus, belle of the night, cinderella plant are more common for this fruit globally, a few countries have already given them local names. He stated that in Malay and Indonesian, the languages of Indonesia and Malaysia where the fruit is cultivated in some size, dragon fruit is called buah naga or buah mata naga. In Mandarin, it is called long guo, though, in popular imagination, dragon, the mythical creature is more associated with China. In Vietnamese, the fruit is called tanh long.
So what is the status of the APCCF’s proposal?
Sources in ICAR confirm they have received the proposal from the Gujarat government and that it has been forwarded to the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare for necessary action. “ICAR does not do everything in this respect. ICAR is the recommending body. Whatever nomenclature, release of varieties, production it is all done by the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, the other wing and not the research wing,” Dr AK Singh further said. ICAR officers say such a proposal needs approval of Botanical Survey of India (BSI) and the National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) under the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC). “Apparently, dragon fruits is not a species native to India and therefore any change in its nomenclature in official annals can lead to international litigations. Hence, the opinion of BSI and NBA matters in this subject,” said an officer of ICAR.
What Gujarat farmers say?
Farmers of Gujarat say opting for the dragon fruit plantation is proving to be a good bet but they are divided over renaming the fruit. “I am aware that efforts are on to rename this fruit as Kamalam. While that name is a bit difficult to pronounce and is also somewhat new, it can be a good choice as just like lotus, dragon fruit flowers too looks quite beautiful and have a high degree of resemblance to a lotus,” says Piyush Vasani, a farmer from Vadva Kanyavala village of Nakhtrana taluka of Kutch district.
Vasani has planted dragon fruits in around 20 acres and says returns have been excellent. “I am expecting to harvest 20 kg per pole this year and the average price is around Rs 150 per kg,” said Vasani, adding he has installed 450 poles per acre.
However, Kamlesh Bhoraniya, a farmer from Susvav village in Halvad taluka of Morbi district, who planted dragon fruits in his 7.5 bigha land around around one-and-half-year-ago and has started harvesting fruits this differs. “My land is somewhat salty. Groundwater is somewhat salty. However, by watching videos on Youtube, I learnt that his fruit crop can be grown in such land also. I took a chance and I have been successful. But I am not sure we can call this fruit Kalamlam. No way does this fruit resemble a lotus,” said Bhoraniya, who lives in Halvad town and has studied till Class 9.
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