Gums & Resins NTFP Unexplored
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
MARKET Gums and Resins NTFP Unexplored Avinash Upadhayay Gums and resins are perhaps the most cording to them, some plants only are Anacardiaceae, Combretaceae, widely used and traded non-wood for- yield gum, others only resins and Meliaceae, Rosaceae and Rutaceae est products other than items con- yet others both gum and resins. sumed directly as food, fodder and 1Inherent characteristic of medicine. Human beings have been Gums: gums using gums and resins in various forms Gums are plant exudations, partly as • Gums can be divided into three for ages. The history of Gum arabic, a natural phenomenon (as part of the types: soluble, insoluble and long recognised as an ideal adhesive, normal metabolism of plants) and semi soluble. Soluble gums dis- stretches back 2000 years. In modern partly as a result of injury to the bark solve in water or form more or less times, gums and resins have been or stem (due to fungal or bacterial at- transparent, viscous and adhe- used the world over as embalming tack). Mostly gums are exuded by the sive solutions as in Indian gum chemicals, incense, medicines (mainly stem, only a few gums are obtained Arabic. Insoluble gum often anti-septic properties and balms), cos- from roots, leaves and other parts of swells with the addition of water metics in paints and for waterproofing the plant. Gums are primarily formed forming gels like the gum karaya. and caulking ships. by the disintegration of internal plant While the semi-soluble gums de- compose completely without Use of gums and resins for domestic MARKET FACTS melting on heating,. consumption and for sale to earn some • Gum is edible cash is very common among the forest • It is not fragrant • A total of 30 types of gums are dwelling communities, particularly • It does not burn tribals, in India. Thousands of forest traded in India at varying levels dwellers in the central and western In- • 3% of traded medicinal plants Resins dian states depend on gums and res- are gums Resins have certain properties in com- ins as a viable income source. How- • 2% of gum usage is medicinal mon and form a distinct group of plant ever, if we go through the statistics, the products easily recognizable in prac- in nature developments are not encouraging, as tice. These are oxidation products of the market for local gums and resins • Gums like canarium strictum various essential oils. Resins are at the national level has largely re- and sterculia urens have been complex in nature with varied chemi- mained stagnant or has decreased given vulnerable status by cal composition. They usually occur over years This development has made IUCN. as derivatives of starch and are mix- an adverse effect on the gum depen- • Gum karaya contributes 2% of ture of volatile and non-volatile com- dant communities. This article is a step pounds. All the natural resins are veg- the revenue from the towards taking the stock of the situa- etable in origin with the exemption of tion of the product group in the country medicinal plant exports from lac (it is a natural resin and comes and visualise the possible intervention India from an insect laccifer lacca). Resins for development. can be classified into three categories. tissue through a process known as The first one is the Dammers, which Introduction & Classification gummosis. The process breaks are hard and transparent resins con- The difference between the terms down the cellulose and taining a small amount of essential 'gums' and 'resins' is not easy to pin- haemicellulose, both of which are oils. The important commercial spe- point in a precise manner. The two complex carbohydrates located in the cies under this category are Canarium, are used interchangeably in everyday cell walls of plants. Gums are com- vateria and shorea, Copals & shellac. language. Both terms refer to sticky, prised of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen The second one is Myrrh, aromatic smooth and elastic plant exudations. and are found in a large number of oleoresins containing considerable However, experts differentiate be- families. Notable among them are amount of essential oils, mainly from tween the two terms on the basis of leguminosae and Sterculiaceae. genus commiphora. The third category some distinctive characteristics. Ac- Other important gum yielding families is Frankincense that is gum resin 1 Inherent characteristics are not applicable to all gums or resins, as the product groups are overlapping in their characteristics. However, more than 90% of the characteristics are applicable to a single group. Community Forestry / 15 MARKET cense, Black Dammer (Canarium Policies, laws and rules guid- Strictum) and Guggul (Commiphora ing Gums and Resins mukul) Indian gums and resins have been in demand in the international market for Physical properties of Gums centuries and have always fetched & Resins high prices. But is has been a double- The physical properties of gums and edged sword. On the one hand, it has resins are of utmost importance in de- provided livelihood to millions of termining their uses and their commer- people. On the other, there has been cial value. Not only do they vary con- rampant, unsustainable tapping and siderably among gums & resins of dif- exploitation for quick money. The 80's, ferent botanical origins. There are also in particular, saw large scale over-ex- noticeable differences even within the ploitation leading to severe damage Photo:-CSV-Maharashtra same species when gums are col- and death of trees. Chastened by the lected from plants growing under dif- experience, many gum-producing ferent climatic conditions and even the states in the country have restricted same plant in different seasons of the their extraction and have adopted con- Gum is Oozing out of the tree year. The major physical properties of trol measures for protection of liveli- gums & resins are colour and form, hoods as well as to stop abrupt rise in from species boswellia. Major resins taste and smell, hardness and den- demand. The policies of major states available in India are Sal (Shorea ro- sity, solubility, viscosity and colloidal are as follows: busta), Vellapine (Vateria indica), nature. canarium strictum, Chir pine (Pinus Andhra Pradesh Roxburgii), Gurjan (Dipterocarpus Production and consumption Five major types of gum are available terbinatus), Indian Gamboge tree The bulk of commercially important in Andhra Pradesh. They are; gum (Garcinia morella). The major resin gums in the country comes from the karaya, gum thiruman (Dhawara), gum producing states are Uttar Pradesh, central Indian forests, consisting of Olibanum (Salai), Gum kondagogu Himachal pradesh, Jammu & Kash- states like Madhya Pradesh, (Cochlospermum gossypium) and mir, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa. Res- Chattisgarh,Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, gum Dikmali (Gardenia Gummifera). ins are found in a large number of fami- Jharkhand and Bihar while Gujarat All the gums in the state are under a lies. Notable among them are and Rajasthan contribute a small por- specified list with restrictions. The Pinaceae, Fabaceae, Burseraceae, tion of it. The rest of the India produces gums are collected by GCC (Girijan Dipterocarpaceae. a very small quantity. The gum produc- Co-operative Corporation). GCC pays ing areas are mostly around the West- a royalty to the Forest Department to Inherent characteristic of Res- ern Ghats and the Eastern Ghats and secure collection rights and market ins surrounding areas. More than 90% of monopoly. In the scheduled areas, the • Resins are not edible gums produced in India come from tribals have the right to collect gums • Resins are aromatic just four states: Madhya Pradesh, from the forests. For this, GCC issues • Resins are inflammable Chattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and a "Giricard" to the identified gum picker, • They are insoluble in water but Orissa. which legitimises access to forests for usually dissolve readily in alco- gum collection and also sale in the hol, ether and certain other sol- Most important Indian gums like gum vents. karaya, dhawara gum and salai are exported to Europe and America, Important Gums and Resins where they are processed and value available in India added. The local use of these gums Though there are more than 30 com- and resins is as little as less than 5% mercially important gum and resin -most of it by pharmaceutical indus- species available in India, the num- tries. In northern India, it is also used ber of important trees with substantial in food items. They are commonly production is rather small. Among the marketed and used in the preparation various kinds of gums, the important of "laddu" and various other kinds of species are Gum karaya (Sterculia health drinks like sherbet and lassi. Urens), Gum Dhawara (Anogeissus Other gums, which are found in smaller Latifolio), Gum Kumta (Gum Acacia or quantities, also find their way to either arabic). Among resins, the important the pharma industries or Photo:-Keystone Foundation ones are Sal resin (Shorea Robusta), confectionaries. Salai (Boswellia Serrata), Frankin- Making a blaze 16 / Community Forestry MARKET Gums and Resins Expected trade volume & Available areas use Gum Karaya The annual production of Gum India has a monopoly in production and exports karaya is about1500 MT and 90% of this gum; production centers are Andhra of it is exported to Europe and US. Pradesh, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh and The quantum of local use not Maharashtra. Previously, a large amount of the known very clearly.Andhra Pradesh production was from the Aravali region of produces more than half the Rajasthan. But the government has banned it production in the country. due to over exploitation. Dhawara gum (in trade parlance The annual production of Gum India and Srilanka control the market of Gum known as 2ghatti gum) ghatti is about 1200 MT in India; ghatti. The tree grows extensively all over the over 90% of it is exported to Europe country, particularly in the Western Ghats and and US, where it is processed.