Shillong, February 20: Dr. Mazel Ampareen Lyngdoh minister incharge agriculture on the Zero Hour brought by the MLA from Nongkrem Mr. Ardent Basaiawmoit on the need to protect the ownership of Lakadong Turmeric in the state of Meghalaya.
Agriculture Minister Dr. Ampareen said that Meghalaya’s Lakadong turmeric is one of the finest varieties of turmeric in the world and is grown exclusively in the Jaintia Hills region, with significant involvement of women farmers and entrepreneurs in its cultivation and processing, over 13,000 farmers from 124 villages covering 2,130 hectares of land are engaged in the cultivation of this miracle spice.
Lakadong turmeric is considered to be one of the world’s best varieties of turmeric, with curcumin content up to 12%, outshining other turmeric varieties which typically contains only 2-3% curcumin.
This high-curcumin content enhances the health-aiding and culinary attributes of Lakadong turmeric, making it highly sought after in national and global markets, especially in the post-COViD era.
The high curcumin content is a result of the favorable soil and climatic conditions of the region surrounding the villages and the tender care given to the crop by the farmers.
Despite the immense poteħtial, farmers faced multiple challenges in terms of unavailability of planting materials, inadequate infrastructure, presence of multiple intermediaries, and limited access to finance.
All these led to low price realization for the farmers. To bring about positive changes in the value chain of Lakadong Turmeric, the Government of Meghalaya launched the Mission Lakadong fora holistic value chain development. The mission supported farmers through capacity building, technology adoption and access to remunerativemarkets.
The interventions enabled a sustainable transition towards a more equitable and remunerative income generation option for the turmeric farmers of the State. These interventions helped the Lakadong Turmeric to stand out and garnered much attention from all fronts, leading to high demand from both national and global markets.
Taking advantage of the default organic nature of the crop and its high curcumin content, a number of market players have been making inroads into the villages of Jaintia Hills to source the Lakadong turmeric. However, this has led to a concerning trend of mislabeling and marketing the turmeric products from other regions and states as ‘Lakadong Turmeric’.
To protect the authenticity of Lakadong Turmeric from the Jaintia Hills region of the State, the application process for Geographical Indication (GI) tag was initiated in the year 2019.
The GI tag is a form of intellectual property which is used on goods or products that have a specific geographical location or origin and possess qualities ora reputation due to that origin.
The basic objective of the geographical indication tag is to prevent unauthorized use of a Registered Geographical Indication. The GI tags are issued as per the Geographical Indications of Goods Act of 1999 by the Geographical Indication Registry under the Department of Industry Promotion and general Trade, Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
After a series of hearings and clarifications, the Registrar of Gl in Chennai officially awarded the G l tag number 741 to Lakadong Turmeric for East Jaintia Hills and West Jaintia Hills districts on 29 November 2023.
The application was made by Lakadong Turmeric Cooperative Union Limited, Jowai and facilitated by Directorate of Horticulture, Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
The GI status accorded to Lakadong Turmeric stands to safeguard traditional methods and knowledge, ensuring that only farmers and growers within the designated geographical area, utilizing traditional methods, can use the Gl tag.
The tag also serves as a unique selling point for farmers and sellers to differentiate their products in the market, potentially leading to higher prices and increased demand, especially in niche markets and lucrative markets for high-quality products.
It was reported that various buyers were engaged in the procurement of Lakadong Turmeric seeds for undertaking production in other States and further selling it as ‘Lakadong Turmeric’ which creates consumer confusion and tarnishes the image, quality, and unique characteristics of Lakadong Turmeric.
Consequently, this can lead to brand dilution and significant financial losses for the Lakadong Turmeric farmers. Taking cognizance of this issue, a notification was issued by the department prohibiting the sale of Lakadong Turmeric seeds for production outside of the Jaintia Hills region.
All these interventions have successfully revitalized Lakadong Turmeric farming in the Jaintia Hills region with over 13 times increase in the number of farmers engaged in turmeric cultivation.
The focused initiatives are in line with the vision of doubling farmers’ income and have enabled the Lakadong turmeric farmers to command remunerative prices. Therefore, there is a need to protect the ownership of Lakadong Turmeric and benefit the farmers for which the government has taken the best possible steps.
The Government of Meghalaya is committed to promoting and marketing the quality produces from the State and intends to continue pursuing Gl tags for various products. This will enable the State to bring out the unique offerings on the global stage while also increasing farmer incomes and stimulating the local economy.
