TAD News Desk, New Delhi: An apparent shift in the agricultural practices of farmers of Lahaul valley of Himachal Pradesh is made through the constituent laboratory of CSIR, Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology (IHBT), Palampur, which would utilize the vast lands and cold climate to cultivate asafoetida (heeng). CSIR-IHBT is developing agro-technology for the cultivation and has brought the seeds.
Heeng is a high-value spice crop in India and is one of the top condiments. India usually spends 100 million U.S. dollars on the import of Heeng from countries like Afghanistan, Iran, and Uzbekistan. The main issue in the cultivation of the crop in India was planting Ferula assafoetida. On October 15, 2020, the Director of CSIR-IHBT, Dr. Sanjay Kumar, planted the first seedling of heeng at a farmer’s field in Kwaring village of Lahaul valley, initiating the cultivation.
The enormous efforts of introducing heeng in Indian fields is due to the reason of heeng being one of the top condiments in Indian Cuisine. CSIR-IHBT has introduced six accessions of seeds from Iran through the ICAR-national bureau of plant genetic resources (ICAR-NBPGR), New Delhi, October 2018.
In 30 years, this is the first attempt at the introduction of ferula assafoetida plants in India. CSIR-IHBT has raised the plants of assafoetida at CeHAB, Ribling, Lahaul & Spiti, H.P. under the vigil of NBPGR. Suitable conditions to grow this crop, i.e., cold and dry, are offered in the Indian Himalayas region. Around five years are needed for the production of olegum raisins in its roots.
Raw heeng is extracted from the olegum raisins of the plant’s root. One hundred and thirty variations of Ferula are present globally, but ferula asafoetida is the only economically viable production plant for India.
India has different ferulas such as ferula jaeschkeana in the western Himalayan range and ferula narthex in Kashmir and Ladakh, but these species do not yield Heeng.
Himachal Pradesh’s Chief Minister has recognized the Institute’s efforts and added the cultivation of the crop in his budget speech of March 6, 2020. An MoU between CSIR-IHBT and the state department of agriculture has been signed to promote the production of Heeng. Twelve officers from different districts of Himachal agriculture department in a capacity-building program from July 20 to July 22, 2020.
In Madrang, Beeling, and Keylong in Lahaul valley, scientists of CSIR-IHBT demonstrated seed planting and production in collaboration with the state agriculture department to establish the seed-chain plantation of heeng for commercial purpose.
