“I HAVE, so far, shared the newly developed turmeric variety with some 500 farmers located in the villages spread in the districts of Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, and Raigad,” says48-year-oldfarmer Sachin Kamlakar Karekar of Abloli village, 55 km from Chiplun, in Maharashtra’s Ratnagiri district. The variety, SK4, is a high yielding turmeric cultivar created by Karekar.

 

He was among a select group of grassroots innovators honoured by President Draupadi Murmu at the 11th Biennial National Grassroots Innovation and Outstanding Traditional Knowledge Awards. From local variety to innovation With more than 30 varieties grown in different states, SK4 is the newest addition to the family of Curcuma Longa - the yellow spice we use in our food,ceremonies, and traditional Indian medicine. The Sangli’s Rajapuri Salem variety accounts for 70% of Maharashtra’s turmeric production. Though grown in over 20states,thelargest shareiscontributed by four - Maharashtra, Telangana,Karnataka,andTamil Nadu.In2022-23,Indiaproduced 11.61 lakh tonnes of turmeric makingitthe world’s largestproducer, consumer, and exporter. “In 1998, I planted the local variety, Kadja, and observed a few plants that were early maturing and possessed good vigour.

 

I harvested the produce from these plants and selected the ones untouched by disease, had bigger rhizomes, were bright in colour and high-yielding,” says Karekar, whointroduceshimself as ‘12th fail’, and has been growing turmeric as an intercrop betweenthe500arecanutpalms, and 50 coconut palms standing on his family farm since the age of 22. Why call it SK-4? By 2008, Karekar was able to developa superior clonewithall the desired traits and named it SK-4, taking the first letter of Shendge Kaka, the farmer who initiallygavehimtubersofSangli Kadapa variety, Special Konkan, and his own name. During the 2020 Kharif season, the Dapoli-based Dr BalasahebSawantKonkanKrishi Vidyapeeth (DBSKKV) carried out validation trials at the National Innovation Foundation’s (NIF) behest. According to NIF, “The variety was promising, with a high rhizome yield (56t/ha). Among the 32 tested varieties, SK-4 was observed to be superior over 28 check varieties and at par with the best check variety Sona (64t/ha), in terms of yield/ha.” “Ourtrialswerespreadovertwo years and we found that SK-4 wascharacterisedbyitshighyield potential, like Rajendra Sona.

 

The latter’s seed material is always scarce and we hope the new variety will fulfil the demand. SK-4 is a good alternative for those growing iti n Konkan’s high rainfall region. Incidentally, the variety is yet to be evaluated in low rainfall areas,” says Dr Prafulla Mali, horticulturist, DBSKKV. High curcumin content The variety possesses an attractive bright reddish-yellow colour and has big-sized rhizomes.Itisashortduration(160- 170days)varietysuitableforhighrainfallregionsandwithgoodtolerance to karpa (rhizome rot disease). It possesses a curcumin content of 4 per cent. For comparison, the premium-yieldingRajapuri Salem variety yields 315.29g fresh rhizome per plant with a curcumin content of 3.5 percent and output of 32.67 t/ha. Numerous farmers in Sindhudurg and Raigad districts, along with Ratnagiri a represently cultivating this variety.

 

One Vishram Mali (58) of Velamb village in Guhagartaluka achievedthe highest output last year: turmeric pods weighing 8.15 kg from one sapling! Elaborating on the agronomic practices for cultivating theSK-4, he says, “The rhizomes or fingers are planted in nursery bags in April, and by June they are transplanted on fields prepared with organic fertiliser. InAugust, the saplings are fed a second dose of water-soluble fertiliser.” The crop is irrigated till January andharvested in thelast week of February, with eachsapling yielding 3.2 kg or more. He has been propagating the variety for ten years now and regularly imparts training on plantation management to farmers.

 

“Growing the rhizomes innursery bags rather than planting them directly on the fieldoffers 90 per cent success,” says farmerGajendraPaunikar(55)of Nigundan village, who was, till very recently, the Agriculture Extension Officer, Panchayat Samiti, Guhagar Grown in 13 states During NIF event held in NewDelhi’sRashtrapatiBhavanfarmers from Nandurbar, Vidarbha alongwithfarmersfrom13states bought tubers of the SK-4 variety for cultivation.