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Indigofera tinctoria, page 2 of 2 | |
Common Names: Indigo, Indian indigo, True indigo. | |
Notes on Modern Use: Chromaculture in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan. | |
A United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Sub-Programme on the Development and Use of Natural Dyes in Textiles, has been established in India to address the problems that have rendered large-scale production of textiles dyed with natural dyes impractical and uneconomic. It also addresses the widely understood need to use environmentally friendly dyeing technologies. | |
Environmental damage caused by the synthetic dye industry has long been recognised. The Central Pollution Control Board of India has included it in its "hyper-red" category reserved for the seventeen most polluting industries in the country. India is ideally placed to take an initiative in the revival of an eco-textile tradition using natural dyes such as indigo. About 15 species of Indigofera are found growing in the Bengal region, of which I. tinctoria was cultivated in for indigo dyes. The best soils for growing indigo plants were those subject to annual inundation by the Ganges, such as Jessore and Krishnanagar, and the Champaran district of Bihar. India has the climate, water and raw materials necessary for organic production of natural textile fibres, dyes and dyeing auxiliaries. | |
Among the key objectives of the UNDP is the economical production of high-quality natural indigo using envioronmtally friendly agricultural practises without the use of synthetic chemicals. Presently, there is a high-value niche market for textiles made from organic cotton and dyed with natural dyes using only eco-friendly processes. | |
It is hoped that the study and modernization of rural textile production will lead to the establishment of a new agricultural discipline now called "chromaculture" systematic cultivation of dye-yielding plants. Such a rural-based industry has the potential of being entirely managed by women. When chromaculture is practised on marginal and degraded land it should result in the regeneration of the environment. Exhausted natural dye from the dye-baths can be biodegraded in simple waste disposal systems. Hence, natural dyes will not add to the pollution load that is being inflicted upon the environment by the synthetic dye industry. | |
In Bangladesh indigo was widely cultivated during the early nineteenth century when British planters made large investments in it. The districts where it was widely cultivated were Nadia, Jessore, Bogra, Rangpur and Dhaka. By the late nineteenth century, farmers preferred to cultivate rice and jute since indigo was no longer a profit-making crop. When coerced by planters to cultivate indigo, farmers organised a resistance movement during 1859-60. As a result indigo cultivation gradually disappeared from the region. | |
Extinct for more than a century, indigo is now being revived in Bangladesh. Several organisations have undertaken projects to produce high quality indigo, the demand for which is now increasing. In response to environmental hazards, people are now showing more interest in natural dye. Indigo production at present is not yet receiving entrepreneurial response, though the revival attempt has excited considerable public interest. | |
In summery consumer preferences and scientific developments are changing and this is leading to a significant adjustment in international trade and agriculture. During the last century, most agronomic research and production were to increase yields of food and fibre (Abelson 1994). However, during the last decade more attention is being focused on the production of new and alternative crops and their by-products for industrial, and pharmaceutical use this includes the dye plants and their associated industrial applications. | |
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