Itanagar, June 29: Two years of pursuit finally yielded results for the Arunachal Pradesh horticulture department when Arunachal Wakro Orange was registered under Geographical Indication (GI) registration in March, along with eight other organic and agricultural products from the Northeast.
Other challenges however, remain. State horticulture research and development mission director Egam Basar said the production figures of the fruit for the year 2013-14 stood at 1.76 lakh, which were grown in orchards occupying almost 40,000 hectares. However, he said that marketing the fruit has been an uphill task.
Basar said middlemen from Assam come to Wakro in Lohit district during the harvest season and buy them from growers at throwaway prices which are then transported to Karimganj district in Assam where the fruits are neatly packed. "From there they are taken to Bangladesh, branded as Bangladeshi products and exported to West Asian countries", he said.
Basar believes that with the registration of the mandarin oranges grown in the state will help create a market for the fruit. "The GI registration helps give identity to the product," Basar said and equated the development along similar lines as the branding of Himachal Apples.
Geographical Indication is a sign used on products that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin. The registration not only covers the fruit but also all related products like seeds and saplings. All related products will now be sold in the name of Arunachal Orange or Arunachal Wakro Orange.
A committee comprising representatives from orange grower's organisation, Arunachal Pradesh Horticultural Produce Marketing & Processing Board and North Eastern Regional Agriculture Produce Marketing Corporation (Neramac) will monitor the quality and frame terms and conditions for use of the brand name.
One of the challenges that lie ahead is the absence of a systematic marketing channel to promote and sell the state's agricultural produce. Even the figure of 1.76 lakh, Basar says, is the official figure "because the data is not properly collated and many growers do not maintain proper accounts".
Basar said transportation subsidies would have to be handed out if the full potential of the products is to be realised and centralised collection centres will have to also be established.
He said the department's marketing board has been brainstorming on ways to promote the products. "Other products like the Khamti rice and the Monpa maize also need to be registered under GI", he said. The department is currently documenting bio-resources of the state so that they can be registered under GI," an orange farmer at Wakro in Arunachal Pradesh.
