For these farmers, country liquor spray helps in harvest

Pune, December 21: Liquor-laced chocolates, we’re familiar with. But liquor-sprayed vegetable is still virgin ground, one would think. Not quite. For farmers in dozens of villages in the Haveli and Purandar talukas of Pune district, government-approved country liquor (desi daru) and hathpatti (local illegal brew) have been donning the role of key agricultural input for almost one year, a trend that could well sweep a country-made horticulture revolution.

So the next time you see tomatoes with an extra sheen, lush green fenugreek leaves or invitingly purple brinjals at the vegetable mart, remember they could well have been sprayed with country liquor for getting that perky look.

In the rural parts of a district better known for its urban counterpart that is emerging as an IT and automobile manufacturing hub, there is a quiet revolution on. One where the use of alcohol as a crop a yield enhancer and an alternative for costly pesticides is being discovered with no help from agriculture scientists.

The alcohol-induced makeover is being applied chiefly to tomatoes, capsicum, brinjal, ladies finger, cauliflower, onion, coriander leaves, and fenugreek.

“It seems interesting. Using alcohol for better yield seems novel and a study could be carried out,” says Agriculture Minister Balasaheb Thorat, adding that he’ll ask research teams from agriculture colleges to seed details from farmers. And Agriculture Commissioner Dr Krishna Lavhekar said he’s hearing of the method for the first time.

Farmers openly acknowledge spraying liquor on vegetables to kill pests that are resistant to costly pesticide. They also say that spraying alcohol on the vegetables before harvest adds definite colour and sheen and that the crop may be better for humans than if it were sprayed with pesticide.

Take a tour of Pune’s hinterland, where horticulture farms are spread over thousands of acres, and almost all farmers say they use country liquor as a crop enhancer. Nobody knows where the practice started first, though. Some say it was in Shirur, in Pune district, and some say it was in the Marathawada and Vidarbha belts.

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