GUWAHATI, Oct 20 - When Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal lays the foundation stone for the Agar International Trade Centre at Dabidubi in Golaghat tomorrow, thousands of agarwood farmers across the State would be hoping that it would herald a new dawn in the sector and end the monopoly of a handful of traders over the business.
Earlier, agarwood was classified under the wood-based industries, but the government has now allowed plantation and sale of agar up to five hectares of land. Agar (Aquilaria agallocha Roxb) is found primarily in Sivasagar, Sadiya, Charaideo, Dibrugarh, Jorhat and Golaghat districts. The tree is unique to Assam as compared to other varieties found elsewhere.
Agarwood or the resin-embedded wood of infected agar trees is a valued ingredient for high quality perfumery and incense. Rising demand, problems in monitoring and illegal trade of cutting down of agarwood trees from forests have impacted the fragrant resinous wood-bearing trees.
During 2003-04, more than 90,00,000 agar plants of different age classes were enumerated in the non-forest areas by the forest department. More than 9,100 agar oil extraction units are working in Assam requiring more than 7,28,000 trees of agar which are supplied by agar farmers, according to a government record.
Three grades of oils are being extracted from the agar. The rate varies from Rs 500 to Rs 12,000 per tola (11.62 gram). However, in the international market the value of the first grade agar is very high. Prices may range from a few dollars per kilogram for the lowest quality to over USD 30,000 for the top quality oil and resinous wood.
While Assam is the hub of the multi-crore-rupee agarwood trade in India with an annual trade value exceeding Rs 3,000 crore, the farmers here have so far not benefitted much.
�The extraction of resin and distillation of agar oil is done mostly in Hojai district which is basically controlled by a few traders who have monopoly over the agarwood products trade and the agarwood tree cultivators are basically paid a paltry sum in comparison to the huge export profits earned by them as they have direct contact with the customers in the Arabian, Gulf and Middle Eastern countries,� industry sources said.
The trade centre to be built at Dabidubi will be able to host trade fairs, exhibitions and conventions, both at international and national levels, and serve as a platform for the agarwood planters, producers and entrepreneurs as well as international buyers.
�The idea is to get international buyers and put them directly through to the farmers. The centre would serve as a platform for this,� the sources said.
It will be a state-of-the-art centre with facilities like exhibition halls, convention and conference halls, cafeteria, rest rooms, open air exhibition space, security, travel desks, car and lorry parking area, food courts, communication centres, banks, cargo handling, etc.
