Page 183 - CW E-Magazine (27-2-2024)

Special Report Special Report

tices for sustainable cultivation of like FFDC, and other governmental tor to Sri Lanka’s economy. The sector
aromatic plants, and announced that a departments, sandalwood cultivation contributes 10% to the country’s agri-
committee would be constituted soon is now being taken up in Madhya cultural GDP, with 75% of production
to allocate the funds to relevant institu- Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and even in comes from small holders. About 41-kt
tions. Maharashtra. of spices are exported annually, mostly
as whole spice, even as production is
Mr. Sanganeria also urged a proli- The Government, he added, has about 60-kt coming from 300,000 farm-
feration of start-ups, saying that the always been responsive to the in- ers working on 117,000 acres of land.
“world needs more dreamers.” dustry’s pleas, as it recognises its “Very few companies are doing value
importance. “For example, agarbatti addition,” Mr. De Silva lamented.
‘Sandalwood cultivation coming imports have stopped, even if ingre-
back to India’ dients still come from abroad, and this Though eight varieties of essential
Mr. Subrat Pathak, BJP Member is providing employment to many.” oils and spices are produced in Sri Lanka,
of the Lok Sabha from Kannauj, who the single most important is cinnamon.
was the Chief Guest, expressed his Lifetime achievement award Exports of this raw spice is about 19-kt,
strong desire to make India the undis- The EOAI conferred its ‘Life- along with small quantities of EO and
puted leader in EOs. Coming from a time Achievement Award’ to Mr. S.C. oleoresin exports, mainly to India.
family with a tradition of fragrance Varshney, founder of the Som Varshney
manufacturing in Kannauj, he lame- Mr. Subrat Pathak Group, which is involved in the in “Ceylon spices have unique charac-
nted the loss of India’s pioneering However, he pointed out, that thanks manufacturing of EOs, carrier oils, Ms. Linda Kalimba Mulenga Mr. Gehan De Silva teristics. Ceylon cinnamon contains high
position in sandalwood to Australia. to the involvement of organisations aroma chemicals and natural isolates. by the assistance of FFDC in matters Mr. Gehan De Silva, Managing levels of cinnamaldehyde and low level
related to cultivation, processing and Director, HDDES Group, Sri Lanka, of coumarin, and accounts for 85% of
‘Developing countries looking to India for assistance quality control. noted the contribution of the spice sec- the world cinnamon market,” he noted.

in value-addition’ ‘Sophisticated analytical infrastructure available

The opening session on Day 2, adding value. Two editions of a MAP to detect adulteration’
focussed on the status of the EO Festival have been conducted, with
industry in a few developing countries, participation of farmers. Egypt is Dr. Anil Tripathi, Director, Institute
with speakers from Egypt, Rwanda keen to learn from the Indian expe- of Science, Benaras Hindu University
and Sri Lanka, speaking on how they rience in the sector,” she noted. (BHU), spoke about the setting up of
are looking to India to provide gui- a the ‘Sophisticated Analytical Techni-
dance and support. ‘Rwanda benefi ting from preferen- cal Help Institute’ (SATHI) at BHU, to
tial access to Indian markets’ aid characterisation of natural fragrant
Ms. Lamia Melegui, International Ms. Linda Kalimba Mulenga, materials. This NABL-accredited labo-
Economic Cooperation Expert, GIZ, Chairperson, Ess-Oil Ltd., a lead- ratory for characterisation of EOs, has
Cairo, Egypt, noted that cultivation ing EO producer in Kigali, Rwanda, been set up thanks to a Rs. 7-crore
of aromatic plants like marjoram, stressed the benefi ts to the Rwandan investment by Government of India.
black seed basil, geranium, calen- industry from zero preferential access
dula, ginger and dill, is concentrated to the Indian market. “Exports of EOs The facilities may be utilised by any
in the middle of Egypt, while in the have risen from 25-tonnes in 2019 to user/organisation on payment of nominal
north there is extensive jasmine culti- 650-tonnes in 2022, thanks to zero charges.
vation. duty that Rwanda enjoys, compared
to 20% for others. The lab can also address some of
As of now the focus is on grow- the quality problems of EOs, which are
ing medicinal and aromatic plants While exports of EOs accounts for prone to adulteration by adding lower
(MAPs), and marketing them mostly Ms. Lamia Melegui just 6.7% of Rwandan exports, well quality EOs, fatty acids and alcohols. Dr. Anil Tripathi
in crude form. With little process- other Arab countries (17%), and to behind tea and coffee, the country’s “India exports twice as much pepper- The techniques used include GC-MS. It is also possible to iden-
ing in the country, these are mostly non-Arab Asian countries (3%). “We National Agricultural Export Deve- mint EO as it produces. Likewise, GC-MS, IRMS and NMR. “IRMS is very tify the geographical origin of agri-
exported to Western Europe (42%), were working in a scattered manner, lopment Board is providing support to China exports more lavender oil than it sensitive, with more than 100 times cultural commodities,” Dr. Tripathi
North & Central America (33%), but two years ago the focus shifted to the industry, which has also benefi ted produces.” lower detection limit, compared to added.

182 Chemical Weekly February 27, 2024 Chemical Weekly February 27, 2024 183

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