By H H Mohrmen
The news outlet in the state ended last year with a very positive report about local oranges, or the Khasi mandarin, being exported to Dubai, which is, of course, good news. It was also reported that Khasi oranges are being sold in Bangalore, which is praiseworthy. Kudos to the Agriculture Department in general, and the Horticulture Department in particular for achieving this great feat. Hopefully, the benefits reach the farmers who have toiled day and night to produce the oranges and, more importantly, ensure production is at least constant if they are not able to improve on the production of oranges in the state.
Khasi Mandarin
endemic to the region
It is called Khasi Mandarin because the oranges are endemic to the region, and the places where oranges grew in the past are the War areas of the state. Hence, in the local parlance, which is now being forgotten, the War areas are also known as “ka ri u soh u pai,” the land of fruits and sugarcane. Both the War Khasi and the War Jaintia produced a lot of oranges in the past. Of course, it is only natural for the department to go gung-ho on their achievement and for the government too, to take it as an opportunity to add a score on its report card. And, of course, the IAS babus at the secretariat are patting their own backs for the plan well executed. But is this the end? Should we not do some research and at least try to understand the history of Khasi mandarin if we want the production to sustain, and so that the farmers can reap regular, and not a one-off benefits from the golden fruit?
My Personal Story
with the fruit
My grandmother is from Nongtalang, and my mother was born in a village. I still remember that during our childhood days, we used to have an orange orchard in the village at a place called Shmia Thliang. At the onset of every winter, after we had completed our school final examinations, my brothers and sisters and I would go to Nongtalang to help in the harvesting of oranges. Not that we could make much contribution to the process. But I am glad that my grandmother took me to the orchard every year and somehow involved me in the harvesting, which, on the other hand, enables me to share this story with you.
I was more fascinated by the activities that went around the harvest, the sight of many piles of oranges collected at different locations in the orchard. During harvest, apart from plucking the fruits, there were people who collected rotten or spoiled fruit and cut it to collect seeds for their nursery. I loved the fact that I could go around and pick the biggest of the ripe oranges for me to consume. My grandmother Hat Lyngdoh Mohrmen would also set aside some oranges to be shared with our relatives and close friends in Nongtalang and Jowai, in fact mostly for the relatives in Jowai because in Nongtalang, most of the people have orange orchards. When we reached Jowai after the harvest, our duty was to distribute the oranges that our grandmother wanted to give to our near and dear ones.
It was perhaps in the late seventies and the early eighties, when I could barely carry a ‘khoh’ (basket) full of oranges from the orchard to the nearest spot on the Jowai-Dawki road. I recall that I could only carry a ‘khoh chot or hoh chot,’ as the War Jaintia people call it. Khoh chot is a small khoh which War people (particularly males) used to carry their machete, betel nut and pan leaf containers, tobacco, and their lunch packed in a dob kwai when they went to the fields. Khoh chot is not cone-shaped but rather it is like an egg, which is cut at the top on one side. A small ‘star,’ a strap made of cane is tied to the khoh for the person to carry it on his shoulder. The height of the khoh chot is a little bit more than one foot with a radius of about 10 inches or a 20-inch diameter, and those days, dear me could only carry a full khoh chot of oranges.
Even then, Oranges were exported to Bangladesh
So if those in government today think that they are the first to export oranges outside the state or the country, then they are way off the mark. In the past, my grandmother had a relative from Nongtalang who had a tractor and exported oranges to Bangladesh. I can still remember Khyllaw sia Lyngdoh, who at least transported if not exported oranges from Nongtalang to Bangladesh via Tamabil in Dawki. Surely, oranges from the region were not only exported to Bangladesh but were also supplied to different parts of the state. Producing oranges was the major economic activity of the people in the region then.
Oranges doing a
vanishing act
In the early nineties when I started my ministry, the Unitarian Church of Nongtalang was also part of the circle of churches under my jurisdiction, and in one of my bus trips to Nongtalang, I felt nostalgic at the scene I saw from the bus. I could not believe my eyes when I saw a man having to buy oranges from Jowai to take home to Nongtalang. My mind’s eye then took me back to the days when I spent time at my grandmother’s orange orchard at Nongtalang. The time when oranges were produced from Nongtalang in tens and hundreds of tons per season, but then I asked myself, where have all the oranges gone? Not a single orchard can be found in Nongtalang now. Other villages in Jaintia hills which produced oranges in the past are Mowhap, Mowkaiaw, Wahiajer, and even Lumchnong, but orange production from these areas is going down today and in some cases the production has stopped altogether.
Later in the Amlarem area, villages like Padu, Nongbareh, and Khonglah also produced oranges, but now the orange production in these villages has also dwindled. Very recently or to some extent even today, villages like Jarain and Umladkhur also produce oranges, but the production has gradually decreased. The question is what happened to orange production in these areas?
Farmers Scientists
interaction
In the years between 2016-2018, the Society for Urban and Rural Empowerment (SURE), supported by NABARD, organized a visit for the orange farmers from Jarain, Thangbuli, and Umladkhur villages to ICAR Umiam. The visit was organized to create an opportunity for the farmers to have a direct interaction with the scientist and share their problems. It was interesting to watch the flow of information from both sides while we helped in the translation. There were three lessons learned from the interaction. There were two types of pests that affected the orange trees, which ultimately led to the tree dying. The two major pests affecting orange cultivation are the insect that bores the inside of the tree and the parasite that affects the top or the canopy of the tree. The third and most important lesson learned that day was about orchard management.
One of the scientists asked the farmers, after the harvesting is done, did you do anything with the orchard? The farmers replied that except for cleaning the orchard once a year, weeding, and pruning, they have done practically nothing with their orchard. Speaking in the language that they could easily comprehend, the scientist said, you see, fruit trees are also like humans; after they have given birth, they need nutritious food to replenish their strength. The underlying message is the need to manage the orchard which the farmers in the area ignored till today.
Beyond Bangalore
and Dubai
It was reported that the oranges exported to Dubai were from Narwan in the East Jaintia hills. For the uninitiated, Narwan is like an oasis in the middle of the coal mining desert of the East Jaintia hills District. It is the only village which is not affected by coal mining, and because there is no mining activity in the village, it is the only place where water is still potable. It may also be mentioned that orange from Narwan already has a GI tag due to the initiative taken by the DC then. Another village that still produces Khasi Mandarin is Nongjrong, but judging from what happened to the villages which used to produce oranges, very soon the production from these villages will also be affected. There is a saying, “if we do not learn from history, we are bound to repeat it.” We may have produced a huge amount of oranges and are able to export them to different parts of the world, but if we do not do anything, orange production in these villages will also meet the same fate and, oranges will do a disappearing act from these villages too.