What is ferula asafoetida??
It is the scientific name of which we call in Hindi as " Heeng"
It is the one of the most important spice ingredient of our kitchen which has been used over centuries to enhance the taste of food particularly during cooking pulses. It is not only spice items but also medicine which is usually used in "kayam churn " as a good natural medicine for digestion related problems
There are mainly about 130 species of Ferula and among them two are commercially viable as ferula foetida and ferula asafoetida which is also known as perennial herbs
Historical and Geographical perspective
Worldwide there are around 130 species of genus ferula and few of them are also found in Himachal,chamba,kashmir valley and Ladakh but the species ferula asafoetida which is cultivated for Heeng was not present in India
In 2017 IHBT scientist(a dynamic network of ICMR) approached ICMR National Beauro of plant genetic resources and asafoetida seeds were imported from Iran in 2018. After conducting initial research and development the plants were grown on the Lahol valley on a supervision of both the organizations.
Cilmatic conditions required : these plants are best thrive in cold and dry conditions which requires 20 to 30 degree of temperature. It takes 5 years for the production of oleo-gum resin in its root.
Why it is now trending in news??
India has successfully cultivated "Heeng" in kwaring village of Lahol spiti valley in Himachal Pradesh for the first time because in India it is difficult to grow due to lack of climatic condition. Now Indian scientist of Agriculture have developed such a technique which has about 70 percent success rate i.e if it is germinated in indian climatic condition then it will be resulted into 70 percent sapling.
It is achievement because of not only commercial purposes but also for addition of diverse biosphere coexist with others
All this happened because of exceptional effort of CSIR Institute of Himalayan Bio-Resource Technology situated in palampur
Why it is important for India??
India has accounted for 50 percent of World's Heeng consumption for which India has to spend about 940 crores of Rupees for its procurement by Afghanistan, Iran and Uzbekistan
It is one of unique plant in which "Heeng" i.e is extracted from fleshy /dried latex roots of the Rhizome or Tap of several species of perennial Ferula. The dried latex is gum like substance called as Oleo-gum resin
All is done for the purpose of Bio-economy in a sustainable manner
Now the time come in which India is showing self-reliant approach and successful cultivation of Heeng is one of of desired goal endeavour by our tireless scientist