Friday 12 June 2020

Gajapati Date Palm Jaggery- Geographical Indication Application Filed


Date Palm trees are abundantly available in hillsides of the Gajapati district of Odisha. 
Gajapati Date Palm Jaggery made by the Saura Tribals of cottage industry is being produced under the Odisha Rajya Talgur Samabaya Sangha Ltd (ORTSS). This is a Govt. of Odisha Enterprise.
Thousands of tribals are engaged in the production of Date Palm Jaggery.

Date Palm is called "Tala" and Gur is called "Guda" in Odia.
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Gur forms an intrinsic part of Odisha's food habits. It forms a part of breakfast menu and is used for preparation of many dishes like "Khatta" (e.g. Amba Khatta is a sweet dish made using raw mangoes). 
The importance of Gur can be gauged from the fact that Gur is distributed during relief work.
Gajapati Date Palm Jaggery” -  GI Application No- 690 has been filed.
It has been facilitated by Dr. P. Karthigeyan, IPR Expert, from CTTC, MSME- IPFC, Ministry of MSME, Govt. of India.   

Date Palm Jaggery is a natural sweetener obtained from sweet juice (neera) of the Date Palm trees that are grown in natural climate. Gajapati  Date Palm Jaggery is prepared in trapezoidal form called Patali Gur. This jaggery is produced by traditional method and has unique taste and flavour

Test samples of Date Palm Jaggery were tested in Central Govt. laboratories for establishing the scientific and technical nature for uniqueness. 

This delicious jaggery has the following qualities-
1. The colour of Date Palm Jaggery is dark brown in nature.
2. It is organic as no natural or synthetic colouring agents and artificial sweetening agents are added during the preparation process of this jaggery
3. It supplements iron and vitamin deficiency. 
4. Has medicinal value and used in preparation of Ayurvedic medicines for curing asthma, gastric disorders, cough etc .
5. Contains less sugar percent than sugarcane jaggery, crystal sugar and other sweetening agents and is thus used by the diabetic patients.
6. More nutritive than other sweeteners as it is rich in vitamins and natural minerals.
7. Date Palm Jaggery has the following unique scientific and technical characteristics with respect to other sugarcane jaggery:
It possesses a  PH-5.42 , Total Sugar-80.3%,  Sucrose -65.10% Reducing Sugar -11.81%, Total Ash -4.7%,  Iron-14.02 mg/100gm , Calcium -288.7 mg/ 100gm  as  per test results  of different samples of Date Palm Jaggery from Central Govt laboratories.

The GI tag application process will have to go through the stages, projecting uniqueness from scientific and technical aspects after which the GI tag can be earned. 
GI Tag has its advantages. The interests of tribals can be protected, and there will be more scope for employment, livelihood and saleThe demand can increase.

Odisha had earned the GI Tag for Odisha Rasagola last year. There is more interest about GI. 
More producer groups like the - Odisha Rajya Talgur Samabaya Sangha Ltd (ORTSS) should come forward and share details to support GI application submission so that their products can be registered as GI.
Odisha has 17 GI Tags now.
You can learn more about the registered GIs of Odisha here-
Geographical Indications (GIs) of Odisha 
You can download my eBook that is available for free download for a limited time here-

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