No hops anywhere in Aurangabad: Dr Nityanand, senior scientist, Krishi Vigyan Kendra

Hops gives beer its bitter taste, and prevents it from gushing out of the bottle.

It was a story that got the media and the public absolutely tipsy. The story of Amresh Singh, a farmer in Bihar growing hops, an essential ingredient in beer, which sell for Rs 85,000 to Rs 1 lakh a kilogram.

A two-column news story about it in a Hindi daily had gone unnoticed until an IAS officer tweeted about it. That tweet created a storm, with print, digital and social media platforms singing paeans to the farmer for growing hops in his small scrap of agricultural land in Karamdih village in Aurangabad district, Bihar.

Hops are the flowers of a plant called Humulus lupulus. Hops help beer retain its head of foam and adds the ‘hoppy’ aroma, flavour, and bitterness. According to webmd.com, hops are commonly used orally for anxiety, sleep disorders, restlessness, attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and to relieve the symptoms of menopause, among other uses.

A photograph of Singh and his hops farm was splashed everywhere. Farmers, entrepreneurs, businessmen wanted to emulate Singh’s hops-plan and the public was ready to fete the man who cultivated the impossible.

Amidst the ballyhoo, facts went amiss. No one verified Singh’s claims. One English-language magazine even mentioned a Dr Lal of the Indian Institute of Vegetable Research (IIVR, Varanasi) who supplied hops saplings to Singh.

Turns out there is hardly any truth to the hops story. Yes, there is a farmer named Amresh Singh, but there is not one sprig of hops on his land. He never grew one. There is no Dr Lal in IIVR. And plants in the photograph are not hops, they are mentha (mint, used extensively as flavouring in drinks, mouth rinses, toothpaste, chewing gum, candies and chocolates).

Speaking to Moneycontrol, Dr Jagdish Singh, director, IIVR, Varanasi, denied that Dr Lal of IIVR had supplied hops saplings to Singh as mentioned in a news article in an English-language magazine.

“There is no Dr Lal in IIVR and we have nothing to do with Singh or his claims. We do not know anything about cultivation of hops, and news about its farming in Aurangabad is fake,” Dr Singh said.

Dr Jagdish Singh was not the only one rebutting Amresh Singh’s claims. Dr Nityanand, senior scientist, Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK), Aurangabad, decided to uncover the truth after being inundated with phone calls, not only from across the country but also a few hops-enthusiasts from abroad.

Singh is no stranger to Dr Nityanand - he had helped Singh move from traditional crops to cultivating medicinal and aromatic plants on his land. Singh’s success story as an aromatic plants’ farmer is also mentioned on the official KVK website.

To verify facts, Dr Nityanand travelled to Karamdih, Singh’s village.

In a video uploaded on a social media platform, Dr Nityanand’s camera pans Singh’s field alive with a small patch of mentha plants. There is no hops. Not even a dead hops plant. Amresh Singh isn’t there but Shubham, his son, categorically refutes that hops was ever grown on the ancestral land.

“I don’t know who started this hops rumour and how it was first mentioned in the Hindi newspaper. It is fake story without an iota of truth to it. Forget Karamdih, hops is not being cultivated in Aurangabad at all,” Dr Nityanand said.

Dr Nityanand buttresses his claim with science. “Hops can grow in varied climatic conditions but normally it requires temperatures below 12-15 degrees Celsius to thrive. In Aurangabad, the temperature touches a high of 45-46 degrees Celsius, a temperature range in which it is impossible to cultivate hops”, he added.

“Instead of talking of a false hops story, I wish people talked of Aurangabad’s metamorphosis as a major strawberry growing area and rearing of Kadaknath, the black hen, which has black flesh, black bones and fetches a high price in the market. With high iron content and low fat/cholesterol, Kadaknath is a healthier dietary option than the broiler chicken,” Dr Nityanand added.

(Several phone calls made to Amresh Singh for comment went unanswered. Singh is not on WhatsApp or email. However, a message has been left on his phone and this story will be updated with his response.)