Choga Lal Saini left his office job to grow fruit in the desert. Sixteen years later, he has created an oasis and become a source of farming knowledge for others near and far.
Image: Jasvinder Sehgal
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Sand dunes and patches of dry shrubs as far as the eye can see. The vast Thar desert, which forms the natural border between India and Pakistan is an inhospitable place. Yet that is where Choga Lal Saini decided to create his very own little oasis, a fruit grove.
In 2001, after 10 years as a clerk at the local administrator office, he decided it was time for a radical change. "I wanted to serve the mother earth," said Choga, who is now 69 years old. "An oasis of fruit trees in the desert was my dream."
His family had owned land for generations, which he could use. But it was in the desert, in a hot and humid climate with no vegetation except for some scattered bushes. It was hardly suitable for agriculture, let alone for growing fruit trees. Still, Choge was undeterred.
(Very) slow start
Given that the odds were already stacked against him, it didn't help that Choga started out with no agricultural expertise. His only option was experimentation.
Choga Lal Saini had no agricultural experience when he started out, but has acquired knowledge through trial and error Image: Jasvinder Sehgal
"The sand and scant water didn't allow anything to grow, but I developed varieties of saplings suitable for the desert," he told DW, adding that they also taste better. Initially half the young trees wilted in the extreme conditions.
"I made the mistake of clearing the ground of dried leaves and mulch," he says. But that was what had been protecting the soil from the extreme heat. "When I stopped doing that, the plants survived."
He covered pomegranates and mangos witg old clothes to protect their fruit from birds. Choga also struggled with termites, which he fought off by spraying his plants with kerosene oil.
"I also used the powder of local mahogany as a herbicide," he recalls. "I never used cow dung manure; instead I used goat droppings, which unlike cow dung, don't dissolve in water and nourish plants for a longer time. I always keep my trees free of all the weeds so they grow properly.”
He plucks the weeds by hand and generally tries to stick to organic methods for his farming. But back when he started, the biggest challenge was irrigation.
Water in the desert
"In the beginning, this was a complete desert. Nothing could grow here," Choga recalls. "There was almost no water and the little there was would seep away in the soil." During the first years, the region experienced severalsevere droughts and even very deep wells hardly provided enough water for Choga's dream.
When he started out, everything was arid, but the use of drip irrigation has proved an effective way to ensure that fruit growsImage: Jasvinder Sehgal
That all changed in 2006 when massive rains that led to devastating flooding also replenished the aquifer. It was a blessing for farmers in the region, including Choga. But water continues to be scarce so he has created five earthen dams to hold back whatever rain water does occassionally fall. He has also gone a bit more high-tech.
Israeli know-how in India's desert
"There was a time when I had to water each plant individually with earthen pitchers," he recalls. But that was before a 10-day study tour to Israel where he learned about drip irrigation at the International Agricultural Development Corporation training center.
Drip irrigation is a system that takes water near the roots of plants, either at the surface or underground. This, combined with the fact that the water drips slowly rather than gushing out of a pipe in large amounts allows the plants to absorb as much of the precious resource as possible, preventing it from evaporating or seeping away.
"I don't waste even a single drop of water," Choga declares proudly.
An oasis in the desert
And his efforts bear fruit - literally. Today, more than two thousand fruit trees grow on his 28 hectares of land. There are pomegranate, mango, jujube and Indian gooseberry as well as many medicinal plants. The jujubes and processed gooseberries helped him finally make a profit - after more than 10 years.
Choga is particularly proud of his gooseberries, which he says can cure various illnessesImage: Jasvinder Sehgal
He is particularly proud of his gooseberries, which he claims can cure various illnesses. "They have special properties because I grew them in the desert. I used to have very poor vision and had to wear spectacles. My knee joints used to pain so much that I could hardly walk. But after using the gooseberries, my vision has been restored and my joints have also recovered. Now I can easily walk and see distant objects clearly."
Alleged medicinal benefits aside, Choga's success has made him famous in the area and local farmers come to him for advice.
"When I heard about Choga Lal's fruit trees grown in the desert, I didn't waste any time and went to see it for myself," says farmer Minka Ram, who lives 15 miles away. He has been coming to Choga for tips for the past five years. "He guides us on water management, disease control, variety of saplings and manure to be used."
Different climate
His success speaks for itself, and has attracted other farmers to follow his methods in order to secure their own yieldImage: Jasvinder Sehgal
Farmers in the district of Barmer are now growing pomegranate on 3,300 hectares, date palm on 72 hectares and gooseberries on 500 hectares of land. The fact that many of them have adopted Choga's model has had a noticeable impact on the local environment, says Pradeep Pagaria, scientist and Head of the Agriculture Development Center in Barmer.
"Choga and the farmers of the area have changed the face of the desert. The rainfall in the area has increased considerably and moisture in the soil has increased by 20 percent." Pagaria doesn't suggest it has been caused exclusively by the farms but that they have contributed to the changes.
The new flora has also attracted species like peacocks, deer and many birds - an unusual sight in the Thar desert. Then again, on Choga's farm, it no longer is a desert.
Survive and thrive in the Namib desert
Scorching hot by day, freezing at night, scarce water and food supplies - the Namib desert in southern Africa is a hard place to live. But these animals have found ways to cope with the hostile conditions.
Image: R. Dückerhoff
Take what you can get
Ostriches do not mind the hot and barren African desert. The flightless birds can raise their body temperatures to stop them sweating and reducing water loss. They get all the water they need from the plants they eat. They also swallow small stones, which grind food in their stomach. Their intestines can handle things that other animals can't digest.
Image: picture-alliance/Arco Images/C. Hütter
Keeping cool in the heat
Gemsboks also raise their body temperature on hot days - up to 45 centigrade (113 Fahrenheit). A network of small blood vessels in their noses cools the air they breathe, and that keeps their brains cool too. The gemsbok's underpart is white, reflecting the heat radiating from the ground. They get fluids from water-rich foods such as roots, tubers and the tsamma melon, which grows in the desert.
Image: picture-alliance/Photoshot
Pick a color
Too hot? No problem for the Namaqua chameleon. It simply changes its color to become lighter and reflect more sunlight during the heat of the day. In the cooler mornings, though, they are black. Their tail is quite short compared to other chameleons. They don't do a lot of climbing in the desert, but they do climb on rocks and small bushes to get away from the hot sand in mid day.
Image: R. Dückerhoff
It's cooler higher up
The Namib Desert dune ant's legs are about five millimeters long. They lift the ant to a height where temperatures are up to ten centigrade (50 Fahrenheit) cooler than directly on the sand surface. It gets its fluids from honeydew, excreted by plant-sucking scale insects. Even though the ants look conspicuous on bare sand, predators shrink away from eating them: formic acid spoils the meal.
Image: DW/B. Osterath
Going underground
The Namib sand gecko (Pachydactylus rangei) avoids the heat of the day by digging burrows and only coming out at night. Its large eyes help it to find prey in the dark. Its webbed feet are perfect for burrowing and walking on sand. The gecko's skin is translucent so that some of the internal organs can be seen. Its color allows very good camouflage in the sand of the desert.
Image: R. Dückerhoff
Night dancer
The Dancing White Lady Spider (Leucorchestris arenicola) also likes to avoid the sunlight. It constructs a 0.5 meter deep burrow out of sand and silk where it hides from the heat. As the spider only comes out at night, it doesn't need sun protection, hence its white color. When mating, the males tap their foremost legs on the sand, giving the species its "dancing" name.
Image: R. Dückerhoff
Easy does it
"Go slow" is the motto of the Namib Dune Scorpion (Opistophthalmus flavescens) when it comes to metabolizing. The animal doesn't need much energy and can wait for months until the next meal arrives. The oxygen transport system in the scorpion's blood is different from ours and isn't hampered at high temperatures - perfect for life in the desert! It digs three meter deep burrows to live in.
Image: R. Dückerhoff
A nose like a shovel
The sand in the Namib dunes is so fine that some animals swim through it – as if it were water. They don't even have to dig. It's true for this shovel-snouted lizard. The shape of its head allows it to move through sand without resistance. It's good for escaping from predators where cover is sparse. Its nostrils face backwards and have a cartilaginous flap to prevent sand from entering.
Image: R. Dückerhoff
A life in the sand
The FitzSimons' Burrowing Skink can also swim through sand. It spends its whole life in the sand of dunes, where is searches for food, such as small insects. It detects its prey by feeling for vibrations created by the insects when they move.
Image: R. Dückerhoff
Hide and eat
This snake, the venomous sidewinding adder, has found the perfect way to catch prey in the Namib desert. It burrows itself in the sand, leaving only its head sticking out – but it looks just like the sand. It moves with characteristic side-winding movements through the fluid sand, hence its name. Sidewinding allows the snake to move over hot sand without overheating.
Sociable weaver birds meet most of their water needs through their diet, which consists mainly of insects. They build huge nest structures, housing hundreds of birds of several generations at a time. The chambers inside the nests provide shade and are cooler than the outside, whereas the central chamber retains heat and is the ideal place for night time roosting.
Image: R. Dückerhoff
In all shape and sizes
Beetles are central to the food supply in the Namib desert. They feed on detritus, dead organic matter from plants which is blown into the desert by wind. During early mornings, they collect water droplets from fog. Other animals feed on the beetles to get their water. About 200 species of beetles roam the Namib desert. Most hide in the sand.
Image: DW/B. Osterath
Harvesting water
The fog basking beetle has a peculiar way of collecting drinking water in the Namib desert. In the morning, it runs up the dunes and does a headstand. Fog condenses on its back, and droplets run down towards its mouth. They can drink up to 40 percent of their body mass on one morning. The species is also known as the head-stander beetle.
Image: picture-alliance/Wildlife/M. Harvey
Playing dead
Get eaten by other animals? No way. This weevil has other plans. When it is threatened, it drops on its back and plays dead, hoping its predators have no appetite for dead, dried-out beetles.
Image: DW/B. Osterath
Life under rocks
There is life everywhere in the Namib desert, even under rocks! Cyanobacteria grow there. Enough sunlight penetrates this white rock for the bacteria to perform photosynthesis. In the blazing sun, though, they die.
