Omani limes - a traditional export
By Viju James
Every meal served in an Omani home has a few slices of fresh lime served with it or dried limes added as an ingredient.
Watch a young Omani squeeze the last drop of the fresh lime's tart and juicy goodness over his plate of fish, salad, or biriyani and you know that his nutrition education has not been neglected.
The small-fruited Omani "limon" has been around for centuries. Some of the earliest travellers to the country remarked about the availability of the lemon in the markets when the ships pulled into Muscat harbour for victualling. In those days it was the only available cure for scurvy that affected sailors on long voyages.
Engelbert Kaempfer, the German Doctor and naturalist, who visited Muscat in July 1688 writes, "We found on the market small sour lemons." Dr Peacock, the American doctor who recorded an account of the voyage of the American envoy Edmund Roberts around 1838 was surprised to find a lime tree in the royal residence. "We entered a part of the building still unfinished and passed through a small court in the centre of which was a lime tree — every green leaf is remarkable in this sun scorched capital".
Every Omani home has one or more lime trees in the courtyard. The tree is a part of the family and plays its role by asking for little and providing much in the way of nutrients. There are several farms on the Batinah coast with lime trees. "A farmer plants a variety of trees including the lime. It's not difficult to plant and it's easy to nurture" says Engineer Baqer al Lawati at the Ministry of Agriculture & Fisheries.
With prices ranging from 800 baisa to RO 1 a kilo in the local markets, it is an income-generating product for Omani farmers.
For several years Omani farmers have followed the practice of vegetative production for getting new lime plants. This involves taking a branch, surrounding it with peat moss, culturing it and waiting till it produces shoots. Once shoots appear the new plant is placed in the soil and begins its independent life.
Several strains of the lemon have been introduced into Oman in the past. But the strain that has come up toppers year after year is the indigenous variety — the Omani limon. Its characteristics are the high juice yields, excellent acidity and few seeds.
The Omani limon has been an item of export to countries in the region for many decades. Open an Iranian cookery book and the ingredient list will include "Omani limon" In Iraq the Omani lime is called the Basra lime — not because it is grown in Basra but because it was the traditional port for import into the country.
The trees have been consumed with a disease that has a stranglehold even on perfectly healthy plants.
Engineer Baqer al Lawati agrees that the Omani lime has been around for a long time. The primary concern of the ministry now is to see how an agricultural product that has been around for so many centuries can endure and provide bountiful fruits for those who nurture it. The future of the Omani lime is in jeopardy. The trees have been consumed with a disease that has a stranglehold on perfectly healthy plants.
Suleiman M al Toubi Director of the Plant Protection Department at the Ministry of Agriculture & Fisheries shares the woes of the Omani lime tree and explains what has happened. The problems began more than two decades ago when the first signs of infestation arose.
On the Batinah coast farmers began to notice that the leaves on the lime trees were getting smaller. Soon after that the branches began to look like a broom. Farmers called the condition meknasatasahara — the trees were afflicted with the disease called witches' broom. It has been impossible to pinpoint the cause of the problem; the panacea has been equally elusive.
It was a while before anyone realised that the lime trees were under attack. The witches' broom was not selective. Every tree in the Batinah region was gradually affected. "There was no established formula for getting rid of the problem; there was no insecticide or fungicide to deal with it".
The disease began to show its vice like grip in the annual production figures. The crop yields dropped from 27,000 tonnes in 1999 to a low of 8,210 tonnes in the year 2000. Export of dried limes, which was in the region of half a million rials in 1997 dropped to a quarter of that in the year 2000.
Calls for help went out in several directions. J M Bove surveyed the problem in April 1986. In his report he said, "Practically no flowers or fruits are produced on witches' broom. In the final stage of the disease, the trees have many dead twigs, shoots and branches; with only a few witches' brooms left. At this stage, the trees are almost dead and farmers are forced to eradicate them and plant banana trees instead.
The progress of the disease from the first witches' broom to the last stage takes no more than 4-5 years" Very soon it was realised that the witch hunt was not reserved for the lime trees of Oman alone. Epidemics of witches' broom were found on lime trees in several neighbouring countries including India and Iran.
Suleiman M al Toubi says that since there was no established antidote, the ministry embarked on other methods. They began a programme to cultivate and multiply lime trees in regions where there was no chance for the witches' broom. The Nejd region in Salalah was chosen to be the Research Station to build a bank of disease free lime trees.
The vegetative method of propagation of new saplings was replaced with hybrid seeds. The reason for this change was to ensure that diseases in the parent plant are not transmitted to the new plant through the culturing process. New strains of lemons which are disease free were also introduced.
The only advice that the ministry was able to give the farmers of the Batinah region was to cut down the affected trees and burn the wood. The farmers were hardly in the mood to accept the one stroke solution. "I admire the determination of these farmers" says Suleiman M al Toubi. "People love their lime trees. Which parent would be willing to throw out a member of the family who has become sick?"
The farmers were distressed. They then adopted a unique approach. They planted fresh trees. They worked these trees and continued to keep the trees as long as they were healthy. They managed to get limes from them for four to five seasons.
The Sultanate is no longer alone in facing the witches' broom. The Food and Agricultural Organisation has stepped in to help eradicate the witches' broom both in Oman and the surrounding countries. The FAO report on the new lime growing efforts in the desert region of Nejd is positive.
The report suggests mandatory certification for citrus trees and control of witches' broom. It also says that the Omani limon can do well in the Nejd region thanks to the contributing factors. The best chit given by the FAO is that the Research Station is an excellent location for citrus foundation plantings.
The travails of the Omani lime tree are not yet over and there's much work to be done. Suleiman M al Toubi. Advises a check of the lime tree in the backyard for signs of disease. The ministry advises that affected trees be cut down, burnt and replaced with new disease free saplings.
Oman Observer 20th November 2002
