One neem tree is equal to 10 air conditioners

New Delhi, Feb 21 (UNI) One neem tree is equal to ten air conditioners and worth 24000 to 30,000 US dollars in the economic service it renders in its life time.

Moreover, use of neem in controlling pests was a Gandhian way.

It is a non-violent form of saving crop as it does not involve killing of pests as in the case of chemical pesticides.

These facts were highlighted by experts who came here to take part in a seminar on neem-based pesticides held here this morning.

Unfortunately India which was a traditional grower of these trees will soon be left behind by China and Brazil, says botanist and Chairman Neem Foundation Dr Ramesh Saxena.

Besides Brazil, Australia and Vietnam were also planting neem tress on a massive scale, he said.

A neem tree, whose average life is 250 to 300 years, acts like a natural air conditioner, The temperature under its shade is 10 degrees less than the ambient temperature.

It has multuiple uses--in health care, medicine, plant protection, agriculture, household care and cosmetics.

Despite being such a wonderful tree, due attention has not been given to the promotion and research on the varied uses of the plant in India, says Dr Saxena.

Chinese scientist Dr Yanping Zhang from the Reaserch Institute of Resources Insects of Chinese Academy of Forestry says his country had planted 22 million neem trees in the past five years as against the total 20 million trees existing in India.

Dr Zhang said they were working on producing neem-based pesticides to make them commercially vilable, but that will take some time. As of now it was much costlier than the chemical pesticide, so more research and efforts were needed to bring down the prices of the pesticides based on neem.

Training of farmers in the use of these perticides was also a part of the whole programme of promotion of these products, he said.

Dr Ramesh Saxena finds the use of word pesticide for neem products a 'misnomer', as, he argues, these products do not kill pests.

''They reduce pest population in a non-violent Gandhian way. No killings are involved.'' Explaining, he said the bodies of insects absorb neem compounds as if they were real harmones, but this only blocks their endocrine systems. The resulting deep-seated behavioural and physiological aberrations leave the insects so confused in brain and body that they cannot reproduce and their population goes down.

Agricultural scientist from Bidhan Chandra universitry of West Bengal says the neem-based pest control agents have a great scope if proper and adequate efforts are made.

''We have successfully tested neem-based products in controlling pests in brinjal, chilli and cabbage plants in a pilot project or the first phase of the project titled 'Technical support for Developemnt and Production of Neem Products as Environment Friendly Pesticides.' The programme was a joint venture between the Ministry of Environment and Forests and the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation and this seminar was about the second phase that was going to be launched.

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