Senior scientist B Krishnamoorthy who has identified the dwarfing source said it would revolutionise clove production as had happened in the production of wheat and rice after the introduction of the dwarfing genes `Dee-gee-woo-gen' and Norin-10' respectively. The IISR scientists came across two 16-year-old clove trees at Black Rock Estate of Kanyakumari district during their survey for locating elite clove trees.

The greatest advantage of the dwarf variety, located for the first time in the world, is that it would facilitate easy harvesting. "For, while we can have around 200 clove trees per hectare with ordinary type at 7m/7m spacing, we can accommodate almost double this number, ie. 400 bushy clove trees per hectare at 5m/5m spacing," said Krishnamoorthy. "Importantly, cultural operations like weeding,plant protection etc, are also easy in a dwarf clove."

While the average height of clove trees is 20 m, the one found is only 2 m tall, with a canopy width of 5 m. The main trunk of the dwarf clove tree is just 0.6 m in height with profuse branches. Also, the branching starts just 60 cm above ground level. The average yield of each tree is about 3 kg dry cloves a year.

The other features of the dwarf are that the fruits are reddish brown and smaller and leaves arranged in a cluster, longer, broader and thicker with very short internodes. Further, a mean of 33.2 leaves was observed in a length of 12 cm of shoot. The base of the petiole is purplish.

According to PN Ravindran, principal scientist at IISR, the genetic studies to find out whether the characters present in the dwarfing genes like lodging and fertiliser resistance are yet to be undertaken. However, seedlings raised from the dwarf clove trees have also exhibited dwarf nature.

Also, cultivation of clove, mainly in the hilly terrains of theWestern Ghats, could reduce production cost on account of the fact that dwarf varieties are wind resistant. The ideal location for clove usually is 500 to 600 meters above sea level.

Despite all this, IISR is handicapped by lack of funds or sufficient manpower to carry out further studies to develop tissue culture. Though tissue culture as such is not so successful, studies in that direction could well help develop the required seedlings of dwarf varieties of clove with in the shortest time possible - four to five years, said Ravindran. For the time being, IISR is multiplying the dwarf varieties through vegetative propagation-cutting, budding and grafting.

Another scientist J Rema has already standardised the grafting techniques for clove with the result that a minimum of 5,000 plants could be supplied a year through the method.

The development should enthuse the farmers who have been hit by low prices, following the excessive import of clove allowed by the Union Government's import policy as part ofthe liberalisation process. For instance, the market price of clove, which stood at Rs 165 per kg in 1993-94, has shown a gradual decline over the last five years. It now hovers around Rs 140. Last year, it was Rs 142. Flooding of Indonesian clove for the last two years in the country, following the ban on kretek cigarette in that country had added to the woes of the farmers.

The country's dependence on imported clove was on the increase every year as domestic production is insignificant as compared to demand said Directorate of Arecanut, Cocoa and Spices Development (DACD) director K Sivaraman pointed out that imports which amounted to 2924 tonnes valued at Rs 9.50 crore in 1992-93, has nearly doubled to 5,250 tonnes valued at Rs 16.94 crore in 1996-97.

Available statistics indicate that during the period 1980-81 to 1994-95, the country's production of clove registered a marginal increase from 1,000 tonnes to 2,455 tonnes. This is despite the fact that during the same period the total area under clovehas increased from 1,399 hectares to 2,270 hectares.

Further, some States like Tamil Nadu have reported low production. For example, production of clove in Tamil Nadu fell to 810 tonnes in 1994-95 from 830 tonnes in 1993-94 whereas area under the crop increased from 821 hectares to 842 hectares. The details of other clove-producing States --Kerala, Karnataka and Andaman and Nicobar Islands are available only up to 1993-94.DCAD is targeting a 5 per cent growth in area under clove in the Ninth Plan period as compared to 4 per cent in the Eighth Plan period.

One way would be to increase the productivity of clove trees by following improved package of practices and bringing new suitable areas under clove cultivation. "As per the Ninth Plan projections submitted to the government, we are targeting to achieve a production growth of 19 per cent as against the previous growth rate of 9 per cent," said DCAD research officer TC Ravindran.