Shillong, Feb 20: The farmers of Meghalaya toil very hard in producing the Lakadong Turmeric which is considered to be one of the best turmeric in the world due to its medicinal properties. However, a massive threat now looms large over these farmers as people from other states are have successfully come up with a counterfeit Lakadong Turmeric and selling their produce in the name of Lakadong Turmeric after managing rhizomes from Meghalaya.
Raising this concern, VPP MLA from Nongkrem, Ardent Basaiawmoit said while attending a programme at Saphai village, villagers requested him to take up the matter with the state government in connection with the decline in the sale of Lakadong Turmeric.
“The reason that they told that their sale is going down because people from other state have also planted Lakadong turmeric by taking the rhizomes from here and they sell the produce by using the name of Lakadong turmeric only,” he said.
Asking government to intervene and patent the product, Basaiawmoit said that the trend has diluted the quality of the original Lakadong turmeric because their soil cannot yield the same quality of turmeric, since the nature of the soil is one of the major factors that contributed to the quality of Lakadong turmeric.
“It has also created confusion among the consumers to differentiate between the original Lakadong turmeric and a counterfeit one which uses the name of Lakadong,” Bassiawmoit said.
In her reply, Agriculture Minister, Ampareen Lyngdoh said that 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.
According to Lyngdoh, as this has led to a concerning trend of mislabelling and marketing the turmeric products from other regions and states as ‘Lakadong Turmeric’. Process for Geographical Indication (GI) tag was initiated in 2019 to protect the authenticity of Lakadong Turmeric from the Jaintia Hills region of the State
A Gl 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 or a reputation due to that origin. The basic objective of the geographical indication tag is to prevent unauthorised use of a Registered Geographical Indication. The Gl 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 Internal Trade, Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
“After a series of hearings and clarifications, the Registrar of GI in Chennai officially awarded the GI tag No. 741 to Lakadong Turmeric for East Jaintia Hills and West Jaintia Hills districts on November 29, 2023,” the minister said while adding that the Gl 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.
It may be mentioned 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