The middleman purchases ginger during the harvest season at hardly Rs.5 per kilogram and the same is sold at Rs.120 per kilogram in Guwahati

One will be amazed to know that the middleman purchases ginger during the harvest season at hardly Rs.5 per kilogram and the same is sold at Rs.120 per kilogram in Guwahati retail sale outlets not to speak about the market price of other parts of India or the export rate. “The escalation of the cost of spices in Assam has definitely enlarged the takings of middlemen who are bleeding the poor farmers dry; we do not have a proper marketing system to sell our produce at a profitable rate; the marketing wing of the Agriculture Department functioning under the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council is working like a dead duck spending crores of rupees in worthless projects; they do not bother to help us” Jen Sing Terang a local ginger cultivator of Hamren said.It may be mentioned here that in 2007, a cooperative society for procurement and sale of organic ginger was formed under the name of ‘Gin-fed’ (Ginger Growers Cooperative Marketing

Federation, Karbi Anglong) at the expense of the Centrally funded RSVY and the Agriculture Department functioning under the control of the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council and ginger producers of this vast district rict where quality ginger is produced was involved in the whole imitative. Dr. M. Angamathu, the then Deputy Commissioner of Karbi Anglong, was the pivoting spirit behind ‘Gin-fed’. The initial fillip was so great that Dr. M. Angamathu, to popularize the organic ginger got an invitation to participate in the ‘Natural & Organic Products Europe, 2007 London’ as the leader of the Indian delegation by the Federation of Indian Export Organization, New Delhi. In his opinion, there is a need to “Create brands like Assam Tea, Karbi Ginger, Joha rice, Assam Chilli in the international markets”. The endeavour involved banks, cooperative departments and NGOs also. “Procuring and selling of ginger in the outside market was not the sole aim of Gin-fed. The aim was to train the farmers in documentation and help them get certification as growers of an organic crop. The need of the hour is for aggressive marketing of Karbi Anglong ginger and to develop it as a brand in the national market not to mention the international market like Assam Tea” Dr. M. Angamathu says.

The whole imitative showed a meteoric ascent within a span of a few months. Manpower, money and machinery were moved into action to introduce the organic ginger of Karbi Anglong in the national and international markets, ensuring more income by value addition and avoiding distress sale by fixing a minimum profitable price through payment on the spot. To directly link the growers to the market and uplift the economic condition of the growers by linking credit facilities as seed capital through banks by means of credit. But the initiative is in a calamitous condition today, the dream project of Angamathu probably is waiting for him to revive it once more.

Sushanta Roy