Lieutenant Governor, R.K. Mathur convened a meeting to discuss means and measures for the development and value addition of the Sea buckthorn industry in Ladakh on February 3.

Advisor Umang Narula; Divisional Commissioner Saugat Biswas; Chief Conservator of Forests, Preet Pal Singh; Director DIHAR, OP Chaurasia; Director Industries, Moses Kunzang and members from the concerned departments attended the meeting.

The meeting deliberated upon the ways and means to develop a sustainable development strategy.

Asserting that Sea buckthorn is a potential large GDP contributor as well as a means of employment generation, L-G Mathur stressed the need to form a regulatory framework to standardize the procedure for the management of the plant.

“Latest and reliable statistics need to be acquired through scientific means to figure out the present availability and growth potential of Ladakh’s Sea Buckthorn”, stated L-G Mathur.
He instructed the departments to gather present land area under plantation, present harvesting data, and potential new areas, etc.

Further, L-G instructed the departments to set an ambitious target to increase the sea buckthorn harvest to 2000 MT against the present harvest quantity of 600 MT. He instructed the departments to procure world-class machinery for harvesting, processing, and packaging to achieve international standards while also investing in expert scientific assistance.

The horticulture department was directed to utilize around 1 hectare of land to initiate a model sea buckthorn plantation and to set up a testing lab for Sea Buckthorn Research & Development.

Further, L-G Mathur directed the Forest Department to impart training to the local youths on the standard process of plantation, harvesting, drying, and storage of the product and stated that efforts should be to maximize employment generation in the complete value chain viz plantation, harvesting, processing products, and their marketing.