JUJUBE, locally called ‘ber’, is an indigenous fruit of China and South Asia. Produced in temperate regions such as China, India, Pakistan, Syria, Malacca, Australia and Malaysia, it is also grown in parts of Afghanistan, Iran and Russia. China is perhaps the most important country for jujube cultivation, where it is known as the “Chinese dates”, with hundreds of varieties, some being seedless.
In northern China, it is considered one of the principal fruits. In the US this fruit has been introduced but is not grown on a large scale.
In Pakistan, ‘ber’ is successfully cultivated in Hyderabad, Khairpur, Multan, Sargodha and Lahore districts. The area under its cultivation has increased in Sindh during 1994-95 to 2000-2001, from 680 to 1,326 hectares, thus pushing the production from 3,451 to 4,817 metric tons.
Hyderabad is famous for producing quality fruit for export to Middle East.
Jujube tree is hard, drought-resistant and can thrive in poor alkaline tracts without much irrigation and care, and can also survive on soils where other fruit trees cannot. Kheerol (chambeli), sanghri and gola are varieties among which gola is most popular and is of two kinds, the green (leemai) and the golden (white). White gola is harvested earlier than other varieties. Previously, the fruit was harvest only for one month (March), but with the introduction of grafted varieties in Pakistan, now the fruit is available from mid December to early April.
To establish a jujube orchard many growers depend on service providers who conduct layout work and supply planting material. The seedlings are planted at 25ft spacing that comes to about 162 plants per hectare. Most growers buy grafted seedlings which takes the shape of a tree in two years. The trunk of this seedling is not very strong to bear the weight of the fruit, therefore seeds of the non-grafted (local varieties) is grafted with new varieties, which can bear yield of about 200 to 400kg. These trees are pruned soon after the harvest giving plenty of firewood, and foliage for livestock. Another advantage is that the farmer can grow kharif crop which is usually cash crop like cotton etc,.
The insect pests which attack this fruits are the leaf-roller striking in May, and hairy caterpillar and fruit-fly in October, which can be controlled by various pesticides.
Analysis: The economic analysis of an individual farmer was made by outlining the conditions under which proper allocation of resources inputs, reduction of costs and profit maximization can be achieved. It was computed on an average cultivation of 1.5 acres of land in Musa Khatan near Tando Jam, with an investment of Rs1,183 for land tax, Rs46,220 for labour inputs, Rs14,219 for capital inputs and Rs18,998 for marketing costs per hectare. (TABLE). Thus,on an average, per hectare total costs incurred was about Rs80,620.
Final analysis showed the net return realized by the growers on per hectare basis were Rs71,363. Similarly, the input-output ratio was 1:1.88, suggesting high return per rupee.
Suggestions: Jujube is a less perishable fruit, and costs lower than other major fruits. In the absence of efficient marketing system, a reasonable profit for growers and fair price for consumers cannot be ensured. Therefore, proper marketing by establishing a sound export policy, especially with the Middle East, Iran, China may help in stabilizing jujube prices.
Presently, more than 98 per cent of the planting material is produced by private nurseries, which is mostly of unknown pedigree and uncertain quality, and sold without certification or guarantee. It is necessary to establish nurseries for the propagation of tested varieties under strict supervision. For quality control, certification of cultivators, and resistance to disease and insects pests need to be evolved.
Lack of proper management practices and input use is another major problem in jujube production. Transfer of production technology among growers to make them understand the utility of proper planting material, use of chemical fertilizer, control of insect, pests and disease is also a mandatory factor.
Shortage of working capital limits the use of balanced inputs and forces farmers to sell their orchard to the pre-harvested contractors, which is a serious problems for growers and fproducers, because these orchards require a sufficient amount of capital to run.