Leh berry loses juice

Seabuckthorn, the tiniest and richest fruit in the world better known as 8216;Leh berry8217;, is caught up in a fight between businessmen ...

Seabuckthorn, the tiniest and richest fruit in the world better known as 8216;Leh berry8217;, is caught up in a fight between businessmen and farmers in remote Ladakh.

So much so, health food-addicts across the country will find it difficult to source the Leh berry juice, with the only manufacturing plant shutting down last month.

According to sources, the Phayang unit, near Leh, had to wind up operations after the local hill council accused its owners of 8216;8216;duping gullible farmers8217;8217; and making money by 8216;8216;exploiting tribals8217;8217;.

8216;8216;A large number of farmers who are supposed to have been paid dividends by the company are just fake names,8217;8217; alleged Spaldan, chairman of the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Developmental Council LAHDC.

Consequently, he said, the council had withdrawn the lease on the land for the plant set up by Ladakh Foods as a joint venture with the Agriculture Ministry8217;s Small Farmers8217; Agri-Business Consortium SFABC and NAFED.

Talking to The Indian Express, D N Mittal of Ladakh Foods said that he would fight the LAHDC8217;s 8216;8216;arbitrary8217;8217; ruling in a court of law. 8216;8216;I8217;ll buy the berry from Mongolia, China, Canada if I have to, to keep the brand alive,8217;8217; he said.

The juice of the Leh berry, a tiny yellow fruit that grows wild in Ladakh, contains 100 vital nutrients and a huge dose of Vitamin C. It found immediate acceptance in the healthfood market, thanks largely to the Indian Army8217;s Defence Research and Developmental Organisation DRDO, which cracked the preservation formula.

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Mittal8217;s plans of sourcing the fruit from elsewhere, however, may come to nought. Sources in the Union Agriculture Ministry said that China8212;the largest cultivator of the seabuckthorn8212;is trying to tap Indian growers.

China and Germany are reportedly extracting a curative oil from the berry, a litre of which sells for a whopping 15,000.

P K Aggarwal, managing director of the SAFBC, which has a stake in the plant, said he was 8216;8216;worried8217;8217; about Ladakhi farmers who have invested in the project.

8216;8216;It is not only about the closure of a business venture. The Leh berry juice must come into the market since the project is linked to the development of Ladakh,8217;8217; he said.

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To add another twist to the tale, the Ladakh hill council has declared that farmers would no longer sell the fruit to any outsider.

8216;8216;We have organised cooperatives of farmers, and in the future, we will only sell the pulp of the fruit to manufacturers,8217;8217; Spaldan said, adding that there was no dearth of offers since 8216;8216;Ladakh8217;s berry is considered the most nutritive of all the species grown in India8217;8217;.