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Row over Leh Berry juice
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Saturday, 15 September, 2007, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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By A Correspondent, New Delhi
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ook them decades to find out that the wild shrub they used to fence fields and burn as fuelwood was the great seabuckthorn, which in China is an over Rs 3,000 crore business a year. Harvesting led to the emergence of 'Leh Berry' juice. Endorsement by ex-president APJ Abdul Kalam and publicity created a huge brand. Now, after over three years, the locals are feeling cheated, saying that the brand does not belong to them.
"We are writing to the central government to help us in halting this exploitation," said Tchering Durjey, chief executive councillor, Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC), Leh. "The product is being marketed under our name, but we do not own it. Seabuckthron pulp is being imported in bulk, but we do not know which raw material goes into the making of this juice."
The product is manufactured and marketed by Mumbai-based Seabuckthorn Indage and is packaged by Godrej Beverages & Foods at its Raisen facility in Madhya Pradesh. The brand was initially promoted by Ladakh Foods (LFL). Though the promoter broke away with LAHDC following allegations of exploitation by the latter, the brand survived, albeit the promoter.
Now, a new battle has started to erase Leh from the berry. "Check their (Leh Berry) website. They are talking about Lahul-Spiti and Kinnaur, but not Ladakh, which is the principal producer," said a horticulture department official.
"Tonnes of this brand are sold in the market, though we have never harvested so much berry. That means the company is using our name to import raw material from elsewhere. Even the packet does not contain what it claims," alleged a LAHDC officer.
In fact, the harvesting has fallen. Against an availability of 11,000 tonnes a season, only a fraction is being harvested. With cooperatives having a monopoly over the harvesting, around a do sen individuals have set up pulping units and are surviving under harsh LAHDC guidelines. "Almost a matching volume of around 100 tonnes of pulp is being produced by us," said Ashraf Ali, of a leading private sector unit.
But efforts are on to make seabuckthorn a success story. LAHDC has agreed to de-monopolise harvesting with licensed entrepreneurs offering levy to harvest it. APEDA is funding a detailed project report on the critical requirements that would help Leh set up a chain of semi-processing and cold storage units.
Union minister of state for commerce Jairam Ramesh has agreed to hire an expert for organic certification of the Leh berries where it is cultivated on private land - a pre-requisite for the process. DRDO, which has developed the technology in India, would evolve a mechanised harvesting system and also identify equipment in China where seabuckthorn is already a roaring business.
- Bloomberg
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