Claims made by media reports about the world’s most expensive vegetable hop shoot in Bihar were the biggest lie.
Do you remember the story claiming “hop shoots” being cultivated by a farmer in Bihar and sold for 1 lakh per kg? The recent reports claimed that it was a big lie. Yes, you read it right.
The recent news on the cultivation of the world’s costliest vegetable in Bihar went viral on social media when an IAS officer Supriya Sahu tweeted with two photos, “One kilogram of this vegetable costs about Rs. 1 lakh! The world’s costliest vegetable, ‘hop shoots are being cultivated by Amresh Singh, an enterprising farmer from Bihar, the first one in India. Can be a game-changer for Indian farmers”.
According to the reports, a farmer from Bihar has initiated the cultivation of a unique vegetable that is sold at extremely high prices in the international market. The reports claimed that Amresh Singh, a 38-year old farmer from Karamdih village in Navinagar block started the cultivation of vegetable hop-shoots on a trial basis in the Aurangabad district of Bihar. The cost of this vegetable was reportedly Rs 1 lakh each kg.
As claimed, Intermediate-pass Amresh Singh is the first person to grow the vegetable on 5 kathas of land. According to the media sources, Amresh Singh is an intermediate pass from St. Columbus College, Hazaribagh is the first person who has started the cultivation of hop-shoots on 5 kathas of land. About six years ago, in the international market, the vegetable used to be sold for 1000 pounds. It is rare to find it in the Indian market and is bought after placing special orders. As told by Singh, 60% of the vegetable’s cultivation was successful.
Mr Singh said that Hop-shoots cultivation must be promoted by the Government. He said that if Prime Minister made special arrangements for the promotion of the crop, the farmers would earn 10 times more than their current forms of agriculture. He said Agricultural Scientist Dr Lal of the Indian Institute of Vegetable Research has been a supervisor of the cultivation of hop-shoots. He added, “I have planted the saplings of this vegetable two months ago after having brought it from the Indian Vegetable Research Institute at Varanasi. I hope it will be a grand success and turnaround agriculture in Bihar too”.
Hop-shoots is also used in making beverages and medicines. The fruit and stem of hop-shoots are used to make beverages, beer making, and for medicinal purposes like preparing antibiotics. The medicine when made from the stem of hop-shoots can also be effective in the treatment of Tuberculosis (TB). Due to its property of richness of antioxidants, this vegetable is used in European countries to keep the skin glowing and young. He said, “In the farming sector, taking a risk with the self-confidence ultimately helps the farmer to win. I have taken the risk for experimenting with the cultivation of hop-shoot in Bihar and hope, it will set a benchmark”.
Hop-shoot is much effective in killing the cancer cells in the human body as this vegetable has lupulones and humulones that kill cancer cells. It was discovered in the 11th century. It was used as a favouring agent in beer. Later on, it was used in food and medicines. To enhance the functioning of the digestion system, it is used in medicines. It also acts as a relaxant in depression and anxiety. This crop is cultivated in European countries like Britain and Germany. Its cultivation was started in Himachal Pradesh but it was not successful because its high price made it difficult to sell.
After such reports on the farming of the crop by Amresh Singh, some reporters on 2nd April claimed that the reports were false since they could neither locate the farms nor the crop. The reporters said that they visited the place as mentioned in the reports; however, they could not find the farm. The officials of the Agriculture Department were shocked after seeing the reports.
According to the reports, they found that there is no scientist named Dr Lal at the Indian Institute of Vegetable Research. Moreover, the institution has also not developed any seed for the crop. Interestingly, the reports claimed that the crop seen in the photographs is not hop-shoot.
Responsibility of social media to provide authentic information
One of the social media websites mentioned, “We have removed the story after confirming that the farmer who claimed to have undertaken the cultivation has misled us and many other publications. Apologies”.
This must be the sole responsibility of the social media portals to verify the information before publishing it. We are dedicated to providing our readers with the authentic information and we do our best to genuinely explore the news.
