Assam Govt New Policy: Harnessing agarwood fragrance

Guwahati, Assam: The Assam Cabinet's approval to a new policy on agar (Sanchi) tree is aimed at promoting cultivation of the scented wood on commercial scale and generate huge employment avenues and livelihood opportunities in the State. It can also boost efforts to revive the centuries-old rich cultural tradition of the state of manuscript writing and painting on Sanchipat (made from Sanchi bark). Easy availability of Sanchi bark is critical to sustain such efforts. Assam has more than 9,000 agarwood oil extraction units. These units require more than 7.25 lakh agar trees. About two lakh people are involved in the industry, 50,000 directly and about 1.5 lakh indirectly. Top quality Agar wood fetches huge price in the international market to the tune over 30,000 US dollars for each kilogram for top quality oil and over 10,000 US dollars for resinous wood.

Agarwood History

The essential oil extracted from top quality Agarwood is known to be the most expensive raw material and is valued in high class perfumery. It is used in mixing by most perfume companies in the world for production of premium perfume lines. The high demand in the international market led to indiscriminate and illegal felling of mature Agar trees in forest world over and the species became "highly vulnerable" globally. The Central government imposed a blanket ban on export of Agarwood in 1991 but illegal export of agarwood continued. Over a two-year period from 2016 to 2018, the Maharashtra government seized over 2000 kilograms of agarwood sourced from Assam in Mumbai while being smuggled to Middle East which shows illegal export market that flourished despite the ban. The International Union for Conservation of Nature classified it as "critically endangered in India" and "almost extinct in wild" in Assam in 2009. In July 2019, the Assam Cabinet in a historic move liberalized cultivation and felling of Agar trees. It also approved processing of home-grown Agarwood harvested from private plantation which may go up to five hectares of land. The growers' and agar oil manufacturers' bodies were demanding exclusion of agarwood industries from the purview of the Assam Wood-based Industries (Establishment and Regulation) Rules, 2000 to facilitate the agarwood-based industry. The new rules stipulate that no permission is needed if a person plants Agar trees up to five hectares of plantation and for felling of trees from such plantations. It is currently cultivated in the districts of Sivasagar, Dibrugarh, Golaghat, Jorhat and Hojai. Unofficial estimates put the number of Agar trees in such home-grown cultivations in the state at more than 14 lakhs. In 2014, the Central government published a draft policy for sustainable utilization of Agarwood and curb illegal trade, incentivize plantations of private or farmlands and regulation of agarwood marketing and processing. One of the strategies envisaged in the draft policy was identification of wildwood agarwood population, conservation of such areas and scientific extraction of agarwood from the wild. The All Sanchi (Agar) Growers' Association of Assam opposed the 2014 policy on the ground that it was not in favour of Agar cultivation and growers has been lobbying for a comprehensive policy for lakhs of Agar growers in the state.

Assam forest department challenges

The challenge for the Assam Forest department will be to prevent illegal felling of agarwood from the wild and passing it as trees from private cultivation outside the forests. This will require improved and technology-based surveillance. The policy also envisaged helping growth of local economy and for enhancing the livelihood opportunities for the local people through setting up of small-scale distillation units in the localities bearing agarwood plantations. In October Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal laid the foundation stone of the Assam Agar International Trade Centre in Golaghat which is the first of kind in the entire country. Golaghat produces about 30 per cent of the agarwood in the state. It will have 150 bighas of land for agar plantation, research and training centres, industrial shed for allotment, exhibition hall, open air space for exhibition, laboratory with tissue culture facility and B2B facilities. The trade centre, when commissioned, will promote business growth of agarwood entrepreneurs. It is also expected to end monopoly in the trade as the objective is to establish a direct linkage of the Agar growers and entrepreneurs with international buyers. Because of the monopoly, the growers are not given good price despite extracted oil earning huge profits. The government must ensure that risk of post-harvest market disruptions is not passed on to the Agarwood growers to the buyers in contract farming to protect the interests of growers and prevent exploitation in the pretext of market unpredictability. For the trade centre to achieve its objective of international trade, it is essential that the export policy on agarwood and extracted oil business should be progressive and in the interest of the growers and Agar entrepreneurs in the state.