The onion crop on 60-year-old Tiloka Ram Godara’s 80-bigha field ripens in May. There are four-five khejri ( Prosopis cineraria ) trees growing in the field located near Osian tehsil in Rajasthan’s Jodhpur district. Since the pods (wet or green sangri) on them have grown thick, they have been left for the cattle.
When asked the reason for not plucking these bean pods, he said, “When we were young, there were 20-25 khejri trees in our field. At that time, farming was done only during the four months of the monsoon. Everyone was interested in sangri. There were no other avenues and this was the biggest source of income. Now, thanks to abundant water, farming is done twice. An increase in income has led to decreasing interest in sangri.”
Khejri, the native tree of Rajasthan, is considered