Jasmine Perfume Industry, if established, will be a boon for Srirangam area Jasmine plantation growers.

Jasmine Perfume Industry, if established, will be a boon for Srirangam area Jasmine plantation growers. Jasmine is native to Himalayan valleys and certain areas of southern India, Malliampathu and certain villages in Andanallur Block of Siriangam of Trichy District women Self Help Groups cultivate Jasmine Plantation. Jasmine seedlings grow slowly, so cultivated jasmine is propagated from growing tip cuttings with several nodes and one leaf. Natural suckers can also be propagated. The cuttings are treated with a soluble salts rooting solution and rooted in equal parts of sand, vermiculite and moss. After 120 days, the cuttings are set into open-ploughed fields, growing in pits evacuated to 4 feet. The lower depth of the pit is filled with a mixture of rotted manure, sand and soil, and the upper half is filled with top soil. During the first year, the young plants are pinched to encourage bushy branching, since blooms set on both terminal and axillaries tip. Pruning begins in the second year, to eliminate suckers, old growth, basal branches, and any trailing branches and to encourage fresh shoots and increase the number of blooms. Upper branches are pruned to 4 feet above ground level. Larger commercial operations use defoliants instead of pruning. Organic manure is applied after pruning, but too much manure encourages vegetative growth over blooms. Flowers can set as early as 90 days after a cutting is rooted, but stable economic yield from jasmine begins in the third year and continues at least until the twelfth year before yield declines. If flowers are harvested for floral garlands, the closed buds are harvested during the night before market. For perfume production, fully opened flowers are harvested near dawn. Jasmine is one of the few picked flowers that continue to develop fragrance, as much as 36 hours after harvest.

Jasmine’s place in the perfumery industry is obvious. The word “perfume” works like magic, Just look around perfume section in any department store or mall and we can see what a truism this is. The word perfume comes from the Latin phrase, “per” meaning “through” and “fumus” meaning “smoke”. In the 21st century, Egypt still holds a prominent place in essential oil production for perfumes and is responsible for a significant portion of the world’s jasmine production. Today, perfumes are becoming many layered, with diverse notes, overtones and undertones unheard of before. It was only in the 20th century that scents and designer perfumes were really mass produced. Before that, the few trade names that existed were Coty and Yardley who made fairly light perfumes with familiar flowery scents. Today’s fragrances are artfully crafted by perfumers who are trained in centuries old traditions that hark back to the Renaissance. Currently perfume had become a $10 billion industry in world wide. Andanallur is an area where most jasmine plantation has been done by women self- help group members and this area produces the jasmine flower. It is a labour intensive process for collecting the jasmine flowers. It is significant to note that the women farming communities of Jamine Plantation made a representation to present Chief Minister of Tamilnadu Ms.J.Jayalaithaa during her election campaign in this region, for setting up a jasmine perfume Industry in this region for enhanced income for this region. Sources confirm that consultations are in progress in Chennai in this regard of setting of a Jasmine perfume industry in Trichy and this is good news for the women SHGs and the population of Trichy District.-Govin