Innovator - Mr. Kasundra Narendrabhai Pravinbhai
Address: Morbi, District- Morbi, Gujarat

Background: Thinning In Date Palm Is An Important Operation But Also Highly Laborious  Activity. Thinning Done Manually By Picking Individual Dates Which Also Time Consuming  And Difficult. On An Average A Single Person Can Do Thinning In 18-22 Bunches A Day  (1.5-2 Plants). Climbing A Tall Tree And Staying There For Thinning Is Also Dangerous. 

The Innovator Made A Simple And Effective Date Thinning Tool. The Tool Is Made Out Of A  Metal Sheet And By Bending And Cutting In A Specific Shape. By Using This Tool, Labour Can  Perform Thinning Operation On One Strand In Single Time.

Thinning In Date Palm  

  • An Important Operation In The Date Palm.  
  • Highly Laborious Activity  
  • Thinning Improves Sink-Source Ratio, That Is, Removal Of Some Fruits From The Bunch  So That Higher Amount Of Nutrition And Space Is Available To Fruits Resulting In Better Fruit  Size And Quality.
  • On An Average A Single Person Can Do Thinning In 18-22 Bunches A Day (1.5-2 Plants).  • Climbing A Tall Tree And Staying There For Thinning Is Also Dangerous.

Methods Of Thinning Used By Date Palm Growing Farmers  

  1. 1/3rd Cutting Of Total Strand Length : – In This 1/3rd Length Of All The Strands Of The  Bunch Were Removed During The Time Of Pollination. 
  2. Removal Of 1/3rd Number Of Strands: – In This Central 1/3rd Number Of Strands Are  Removed.  
  3. Alternate Thinning:- In This Alternatively Fruits Per Strands Are Removed. Among All  The Three Methods, This Method Results In Higher Fruit Size And Quality But Needs Higher  Man-Hours.

The Technology Developed By Shri Narandrabhai Is To Reduce The Time Required In The Alternate Thinning Method. And To My Knowledge, Yet No Such Thinning Tool Is Developed In  India Or In Abroad. However, Utility Of This Thinning Tool Depends On The Following Points: 

  1. Thinning Percentage: Amount Of Fruits Removed After Using This Tool (For Eg. In  Alternate Thinning Almost 50 % Of The Fruits Are Removed) 
  2. Uniformity In Thinning: Thinned Strand Posses Equal Proportion Of Fruits Throughout  Its Strands 
  3. Improvement In Fruit Size: Improvement In Fruit Size With Respect To Un-Thinned  Bunches. 
  4. Fruit Quality: Impact On Fruit Quality, If Any Damages Were Observed In Fruits Due To  Thinning Tools 
  5. Efficiency: Reduction In Human Labour Hours Compared To Tradational Alternative  Thinning Methods.

GIAN is working as Nodal Institute under Start-up Gujarat scheme and supported this  innovation for product development.

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