Cleome viscosa, capparidaceae: A weed or a cash crop?

Abstract

Cleome viscosa, an annual herb locally known as Jakhiya, grows naturally from seed in rainfed agricultural land and abandoned crop fields at altitudes ranging from 500 to 1500 m in scattered pockets of the Garhwal Himalaya. The seeds are mostly used as condiment. This species is a good substitute of cumin (Cuminum cyminum). Traditionally it is also used to cure a variety of diseases. It provides, three times higher yield when maintained by the farmers as a pure crop compared to yield obtained in mixed cropping conditions. With other food commodities, it is exchanged by the traditional farmers of Garhwal with the people of the areas where it does not grow. Because of its increasing demand, it is being sold in the market and is gaining more and more popularity. Until now no systematic attempt has been made to study the ecological significance and economic potential of Cleome viscosa. This paper describes the agronomy, yield, cost-benefit analysis, uses, and ethnobotany of Cleome viscosa. Systematic efforts are needed to promote its cultivation on a larger scale in village community degraded land and in marginal agricultural land where traditional crops grow with difficulty.