Nizamabad: Spine gourd generates good income

Nizamabad: Spine gourd has been an income-generator for pastoralists for the past two and a half months.

Spine gourd yields have been steadily declining since September. They do not appear in the market during the month of October second week. Livestock herders within the forest villages of Nizamabad district pluck spine gourd and sell them along the main roads.

Spine gourd is known as Adavikakarakaya in Telugu, is perhaps the only edible vegetable that grows in the forests. In Warangal and Karimnagar areas it is called as a Bodakakarkaya.

The spine gourd vines bear fruit for about two months, usually between the latter half of July and the first half of September.

"While spiny vegetable vine itself is rare, each one yields only about 2 to 3 kg of the vegetable,"

"All families in my village go to the nearby forest in search of this vegetable every day, but manage to get only a handful," said a vegetable vendor. The villagers have started selling the spiny vegetable by the Dharalu Sirikonda roadside.

The price of the fruit-vegetable in urban places like Nizamabad, Karimnagar and Kamareddy varies between `165 and `230 a kg depending on the quantum of arrival at the market.

The high price of this forest produce indicates that it has the potential to give a boost to the meagre income of the nomadic people, even if it is only for two months. Nizamabad horticulture officer Santh Narasimha Raju agrees that the wild vine can be grown more, which would increase the production of the spine gourd.

"The creeper has a tuber root and planting it in the pre-monsoon period will meet with success. The vines can be grown on the periphery of agriculture fields and in the backyard of tribal homes," the horticulture officer suggested.

"As the spine gourd is a wild climber, it does not need tending. There is no need for financial support to the farmers cultivating it either," Nizamabad Horticulture officer said.

It's a delicacy that is much in demand. Spine gourd, locally known as Adavikakarakaya, remains the costliest vegetable pushing even chicken to the second place. It is being sold at `240 to `260 per kg while chicken is sold at `180 per kg here in the Nizamabad city Armor town, Bhodan, Balconda, Yellareddy and Kamareddy. This is a seasonal vegetable that is not available in abundance unlike other vegetables and hence the price is high. It is relished by both vegetarians and non-vegetarians equally owing to its taste and high nutritional value.

Spine gourd is usually harvested in the wild by tribals in villages abutting the forests. In the recent times, some farmers have been growing it on a commercial scale. The plants are propagated through rhizome. One should plant more female plants and less male ones. It does not require any fertilizers, but one needs patience to grow them.

Fruits, leaves, and tuberous roots of spine gourd are popular with diabetics in rural areas for its relief properties.