Sea buckthorn growers resent delay in commercial production

SAI says plant will boost immunity, increase farmers’ income

Box: Road map prepared last year

n As many as 100 experts and stakeholders prepared the roadmap during the national conference on sea buckthorn at Shimla in September, 2018.

n The Rs250-crore roadmap was submitted to the state Forest Department in February, 2019, but the approval is pending.

— Amid global efforts to develop vaccine against Covid, studies done on sea buckthorn fruit oil and leaf extracts in Finland, Russia, India and China have proved immunity boosting and anti-viral properties of sea buckthorn.

Bhanu P Lohumi

Tribune News Service

Shimla, June 15

Delay in implementation of road map for commercial production of sea buckthorn, wonder plant of cold deserts with potential to raise immunity and medicinal value, has irked producers.

The plant, locally known as ‘chharma’, could have been effective during the Covid pandemic, besides increasing income of farmers, claimed the Sea buckthorn Association of India (SAI).

The roadmap was prepared by 100 experts and stakeholders during the national conference on sea buckthorn at Shimla in September, 2018. The Rs 250-crore roadmap was submitted to the state Forest Department in February, 2019, but the approval is pending. It envisaged plantation of sea buckthorn in 6,000-hectare area on marginal land in cold deserts of tribal districts of Lahaul, Spiti and Kinnaur under the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA).

Amid global efforts to develop vaccine against Covid, studies done on sea buckthorn fruit oil and leaf extracts in Finland, Russia, India and China have proved immunity boosting and anti-viral properties of sea buckthorn. Scientists of IIT, Mandi, and CSK Himachal Pradesh Agriculture University, Palampur, had submitted Rs 7.5-crore mega research project, in collaboration with five other institutes, to Union Ministry of Ayush for funding to develop sea buckthorn immunity booster and anti-Covid drug.

Fruit and leaves of sea buckthorn are quite rich in various vitamins. Studies done in over 70 research organisations of India such as Palampur University, DRDO, CSIR and AIIMS, found its efficacy in gastric ulcer, diabetes, skin as well as cardiovascular diseases and wound healing. The DRDO laboratories have found sea buckthorn effective in combating problems relating to high altitude, such as hypoxia, UV radiation and cardiovascular disorders, said RC Sawhney, president, Sea buckthorn Association of India (SAI).

Appropriate technologies are available on development of value chain on sea buckthorn on marginal lands, and scientists of Palampur Agriculture University and DRDO laboratory at Leh have developed improved technologies of sea buckthorn propagation, cultivation, food and feed, said Dr Virendra Singh, general secretary, SAI. There was a huge demand of sea buckthorn products, he said. Private partners were investing in it and the market was available, he said, adding that the government should support the initiative.