Plants - allowed in to India?

Frangipani

I am planning to take some cuttings of plants, seeds and seedlings with me on my next trip, to set up my garden. Does anyone know what the quarantine rules are - would i be able to bring these over?

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seventies'hippy

Theres a thread here which'll answer your question,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,


Garden Seeds, to and From India

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Nick-H

I suspect that the rules say that you can't. Most countries are pretty strict.

We discussed this at length some time back. [edit: Thanks's 70s ] Some people think it is ok;some people do it anyway; some people think that you should not.

Introducing different species into a country can seem totally innocent and without worry. Quite apart from the practicalities of whether they will survive the different climate is the risk that they may do more than survive and cause real ecological damage. It may not even be in the time that you are there.

Keep your plants at home and enjoy Indian ones here.

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rab

Well said Nick. If the Europeans who invaded Australia 200-odd years ago had known this there wouldn't be so much ruined landscape here now. We have "innocent" British garden flowers here that look lovely in a cottage garden back home but when they take over and ruin thousands of hectares of pasture with their poisonous foliage and flowers there is a huge problem. Biodiversity goes out the window.

Frangipani

I know a friend in Coorg (he is Swiss) who has been introducing some new varieties of coffee plants at his boutique plantation. He has also been experimenting with different rice varieties (for higher yield) - apparently this has been a very positive contribution for the local farmers.

Rab - i hear what you say about predatory plants in Australia. Hence the huge salinity problems we have up the MUrray Basin. But where would our agriculture and food industry be if the Italians and Greeks didint bring olive, tomatoe and citrus plants, avocado is big business but not native, grapes vines and viticulture, and there are new/emerging industries - like chinese greens (for the export market mainly)
I know you have some great Thai restaurants in Adelaide - but Melbourne has to be the gourmet capital. This is amost entirely due to migrants and their contribution to this area.
I am not interested in anything commercial. But i am a keen cook and love to entertain and I would dearly love to have my lemongrass, galagal, basil, kaffir lime and leaves whenever i have the urge to whip up a tom yum, laksa, ikan bakar or mee goreng when friends drop by. Food I think it is a great way to share one's culture.
Besides I love my leafy greens (hardly any in india) - but may have to go hydroponic. Thanks to nick and all for your feedback . Now i have some homework to do and visit my local nursery man.

crvlvr

here is a link to the customs site if you want to review their regulations -- http://www.cbec.gov.in/ and a list of agriculture research institutes in india http://www.webindia123.com/career/agriculture/agri.html

Nick-H

Do not risk India's ecology because of your own likes and dislikes.

rab

Yes you gotta watch those predatory plants they bite like crazy!

Seriously though, you make some good points about the actual diversity of plants that encourages varied foods. I can't argue with that. The world has changed and nowadays Australia is trying to cope with the errors of the past, but I fear that it is coping better in many ways than India perhaps could in the same circumstances. That is why I would encourage you to avoid the temptation to import exotic plants to India.

I came to Aus two years ago and am enjoying the opportunity to grow native Australian plants that did not exist in the UK. So before you are tempted to import planats why not check out what seeds are vaialble in India. There are bound to be many options.

Here on our property we have pasture that is steep and difficult to manage and is infested with Salvation Jane, a European plant that is a very pretty purple flowered annual. Unfortunately here it is not an 'annual' as there is no cold winter to kill it off and it grows and spreads unchecked and because it is exotic has very few natural predators here. It is toxic to livestock and really takes over.

Frangi you will be familiar with it but I will post a picture of how it takes over for others to see.

rab

Attached Thumbnails

 

Sama

I know (as a former garden designer and horticulturist) that even the most innocent plants in our own environment can become monsters when introduced to a different environment.

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Sama

'English vegetables' from India's Blue Mountains
By Papri Sri Raman, Indo-Asian News Service

Chennai, Feb 3 (IANS) A dash of rosemary, thyme or oregano is needed to make that heavenly pizza perfect. Few know that all these come from a village tucked away in the Blue Mountains of Tamil Nadu.

These are herbs the Europeans brought to India, for flavouring and garnishing. In the Nilgiris hill side, they have been always known as 'English vegetables'. That was until the 1980s when the Indian Spices Board found them.

Villagers and tribes grew them seasonally and sold them in local markets to middlemen who took them to cities such as Bangalore and sold them at exorbitant price without certification, says board director K.P. Somasundaram.

He helped coordinate a World Bank-funded export-led poverty alleviation project in these hills, about 500 km west of Chennai. An international workshop on export processing in December 1998 triggered the board's initiative to help rural communities export organic spices.

The project became one of 44 programmes chosen worldwide from 1,200 competitors to win a $250,000 World Bank development marketplace award as an 'innovative project' in 2000.

The producers get assistance from local NGOs and the Spice Board, which spent about Rs.4 million for four years to get the programme on its feet.
One such NGO is Health of People and Environment (HOPE) working in the Nilgiri hills. It helps local people produce rosemary, thyme, parsley and oregano.

'We have given them the technology to produce fresh and dehydrated varieties of these herbs. Now they also have the method of making herb oils for export,' K.S. S. Thampi, a Spices Board deputy director, told IANS.

They also suggest business plans, maintain records for organic certification and establish contacts with local exporters and overseas importers.

The project also integrates existing poverty reduction schemes in the areas, such as micro-credit programmes.

At first there were four project sites -- two in Kerala and one each in Tamil Nadu and Orissa involving 335 families, including 135 from indigenous tribes. It also benefited some 1,800 farmers living around the project sites.

The proportion of women involved in the project ranged from 40 to 50 perecent in Kerala and Orissa. But in the Nilgiris it is 100 percent.

By March 2004, the project encompassed 2,160 families growing organic spices on 4,660 acres.

'The project has demonstrated the viability of poverty reduction through entrepreneurial capacity building. It could be repeated anywhere in the world,' said one official.

hanareddy

Frangipani:

India is chock full of greens! Where are you going that you believe leafy greens are unavailable? I had a guy come to our place by bicycle each day with a basket full of greens (in AP).

Also, regarding this comment:
"where would our agriculture and food industry be if the Italians and Greeks didint bring olive, tomatoe and citrus plants, avocado is big business but not native, grapes vines and viticulture, and there are new/emerging industries - like chinese greens (for the export market mainly)"

People would learn to understand the ecology of the place they live in if they did not have the contributions you mention. A large problem in the world is that people don't understand where they live and they try and turn it into to someplace else.

Happy eating

goangoangone

Chilis and potatoes originate in Latin America. So where do we start and finish?

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Frangipani

rose water and petals used prolificly in indian sweets - and origin of the rose is China, not to mention tea - (we do enjoy a spot of chai) - also from china (the chinese have been drinking tea for 5000 years), banana - from SEasia, pomegranate - which flourishes in India is from Iran, yes goangoangone - potatoes - dna shows it can be traced from a region in southern Peru.
I think most of us agree - its about acting responsibly, living sustainably and treating the land with care and respect.

Frangipani

India is chock full of greens! Where are you going that you believe leafy greens are unavailable? I had a guy come to our place by bicycle each day with a basket full of greens (in AP).

I realise India is the largest producer of fruits in the world and the second largest producer of vegetables (China being the largest). But leafy greens? I do enjoy the tubers and root veges- but have always struggle with salads and vegetables of that ilk. Can you tell me what is available there in terms of leafy greens apart from spinach? (I am going to be in Kerala - which has great climate)

Nick-H

That's easy. We don't take something to another country just because we want to eat it, or bcause we think it would look pretty. I know Frangipani doesn't mean to do any harm, but if she is a horticulturist and an ecologist she hasn't told us yet.

What's done is done. Even the 'professionals' of their day made and perhaps continue to make dreadful mistakes. Please, please, lets not do amateur fiddling now!