Recently a claim that a farmer in Bihar is growing the world’s costliest vegetable went viral. It was said that Amresh Singh, a 38-year-old farmer hailing from Bihar’s Aurangabad district, has come up with a novel solution that holds the potential to double the income of farmers. Having invested a sum of Rs 2.5 lakh, Amresh is growing the world’s costliest vegetable, i.e Hop Shoots in his backyard.
Scientifically known as Humulus- Lupulus, Hop Shoots cost roughly around Rs 85,000 per kg and does not require any chemical fertilisers or pesticides to boost productivity.
But as per the exclusive report in Dainik Jagran, allegedly no such field or vegetable could be found in Karamdih village of Navingar block in Aurangabad district.
Farmer Amresh claimed that he started cultivation as a trial but when he fell ill, his partner could not take care of the vegetable and it dried up quickly.
In various news media, it was being claimed that cultivation was successful up to 60% but the new ground report from Jagran totally dismantled this claim as fake and bogus. According to the report, Amresh just grew black white, and rice in his field.
Assistant Horticulture director Jitendra Kumar said that when he inquired, he found no such cultivation in Aurangabad. Jitendra Kumar then said a high-level inquiry is being conducted into Amresh’s claim.
Amresh also said that he had taken training from Dr. Lal in Varanasi for this cultivation. But in this regard, when Jagran enquired with Dr. Jagdish Singh, Director, Indian Vegetable Research Centre, Varanasi, he said that the entire news is fake as they don’t have any person named Dr. Lal nor they have prepared the world’s most expensive vegetable seed hop shoots.
Hop-Shoots went viral
This information was widely shared by people all around social media and was praised by many. But alas this story has allegedly now become a part of ‘Fake Hall of Fame’ and has proved once again that how easy it is to fake information in our country.
One kilogram of this vegetable costs about Rs 1 lakh ! World’s costliest vegetable,’hop-shoots’ is being cultivated by Amresh Singh an enterprising farmer from Bihar, the first one in India. Can be a game changer for Indian farmers 💪https://t.co/7pKEYLn2Wa @PMOIndia #hopshoots pic.twitter.com/4FCvVCdG1m
— Supriya Sahu IAS (@supriyasahuias) March 31, 2021
Reports say that the plant is helpful in creating antibodies that prevent TB, cancer, and leukemia. The flowers of the plant are used as stabilising agents against beer-making while other parts of the plant are used for food and medicine.
