Sambalpur (Odisha): Generally speaking, who does not know about the normal colour of wheat and turmeric? But when we talk of black turmeric and black wheat, none may believe it. While it sounds a bit odd to talk about such things, it is a fact that the cultivation of black wheat and black turmeric is being done in Sambalpur town in Western Odisha. A highly educated person of Sambalpur has become successful in the cultivation of such wheat and turmeric for the first time in the state. He has been drawing accolades from various quarters after successfully conducting a field trial of cultivation of these two products in his farmhouse.
Dibyaraj Beriha of Sambalpur happens to be a botanical scientist by profession. He has done his M. Phil in Botany. He is also doing research on plant tissue culture. Earlier he had succeeded in the cultivation of bioflux pisciculture and black paddy and now he had become an example for other farmers by successfully cultivating black wheat and black turmeric.
He had procured seeds of black wheat from the Punjab University of Agriculture and had come out successful in its field trial here. But the most important point about the cultivation of black wheat is that its medicinal quality is twenty times more compared to the common wheat. Besides, it has heavy demand in the market. Its demand is skyrocketing as it is very useful for patients suffering from diseases like cancer, arthritis and bariatric. While the flour made from this type of black wheat is priced at Rs 600 per kilogram, its seeds are sold for Rs. 1200 to Rs. 1500 per kg.
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On the other hand, he has also tried to revive the cultivation of black turmeric by bringing the same from Debgarh forest areas, where it has almost become extinct. This black turmeric is very useful for skin diseases and stomach ailments and is being sold at Rs. 4500 per kilogram. According to people here, a lot of problems associated with the cultivation of these products would be over if the district administration encourages and patronises these cultivations.
Dibyaraj is mainly conducting his research work on rediscovering seeds that were gradually becoming extinct as also inventing new types of seeds. He says that he will also continue his research work in these fields in future. For this, he has also received assistance from the state government. The people of Sambalpur district had heaped praises on him for his endeavour.
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