NEW ENTERPRISE: The sweet smell of roses

BY SHISHIR PRASHANT


The hill resort of Joshimath in Uttarakhand will soon be developed into a rose cluster.

Geographically, the hill resort of Joshimath is not very far away from the Valley of Flowers, a world heritage site in the Garhwal hills. This may be one reason why the two areas, which are located in the Chamoli district of Uttarakhand, are abundant in exotic flowers.

Situated at a height of 7,000 feet above sea level, Joshimath is home to roses of all hues and colours because of the excellent climatic conditions. And now the state government is all set to develop Joshimath, the wintry sojourn of the Badrinath shrine, as a rose cluster.

This move is also likely to open up new opportunities of entrepreneurship for the local people, who are mostly tribal farmers growing vegetables and apples.

The Dehradun-based Centre for Aromatic Plants (CAP), a state government department, distributed 2,000 saplings of damask roses some three years ago. These sweet-scented flowers have pink or light red velvety petals which are used to make attar, a kind of perfume. This is how rose farming began at Joshimath.

Recently, the CAP installed two distillation units for making rose water in the area. According to one estimate, rose water is being sold at Joshimath — a Chardham circuit area with tremendous tourist potential — at Rs 350 per kg, keeping in view its high quality. It is otherwise sold at Rs 60-70 per kg in the market.

“We have developed a rose cluster of 15-16 hectares at Joshimath with the future goal of 200 hectares by 2020,” said Nripen Chauhan, the head of CAP.

Chauhan said efforts are afoot to add another 35 hectares in one or two years, to produce 10-12 tonnes of damask roses. By that time, the CAP would set up processing units for making rose oil whose market rate is Rs 4 lakh per kg.

“Besides, we are also thinking of making rose attar,” he said. Currently, some 56 people are involved in rose farming.

Chauhan has estimated a business potential of Rs 4 crore per year, involving nearly 2,500-3,000 local Bhotia tribals in the area. The CAP also provides training to the locals for developing rose water through distillation units.

SOURCE; BUSINESS STANDARD