Madhya Pradesh’s Panna district is famous for its tigers, with tourists flocking in to see the big cats in their habitat, the Panna Tiger Reserve. But, the district has much more to offer to the outside world than tigers. In Panna, amla, or the Indian gooseberry, grows in abundance and the variety found here is one of the best as it contains the maximum amount of Vitamin C.
The amla found in the forests of Panna is not easily available elsewhere in the country. So, although people know about it, it’s still difficult for them to source it in the absence of its availability in the market. But with the efforts of 2016-batch IFS officer and DFO of Panna North, Mr. Gaurav Sharma, this premium variety of amla will soon be available online. Not only that, because of its distinct identity, Panna’s amla is soon going to get the GI tag, also.
Indian Masterminds interacted with Mr. Gaurav Sharma to know more about Panna’s amla and its marketing.
ABOUT PANNA’S AMLA
About 60 percent of the forests in Panna is government owned. The royal families also have a share in the forests. So, Amla is found here in both government and private forests. Speaking to Indian Masterminds, Mr. Sharma said, “Panna amla is a hardy species. It easily grows even in less water. Due to the climate, soil and water of Panna, the amla here is better than the amla of any other place in the country. When we hired an agency for GI tagging, they compared the amla of Pratapgarh with Panna and ours had twice the vitamin C than that of Pratapgarh.”
Panna’s amla always had a name, but over time, it faded because companies like Dabur and Patanjali made products out of it but did not sell it under the name of ‘Panna’, instead they branded it under their own name.However, with Mr. Sharma’s efforts, the lost glory is about to be revived. “We felt that we should bring Panna’s amla back to the market in the right way. At first we started selling in normal packaging, but later we scaled it up. We also started bio-degradable packaging of the products.”
The Forest Department uses the Pradhan Mantri Van Dhan Yojana for producing amla on a large scale and then sell them in the form of candy and murabba. A company from Kanpur, Wildlens, has been hired for packaging. We are also selling our products on their platform. We have 800 people connected with us now. Gradually this number will increase and take the form of a big business,” the officer said. Already, around 10 to 12 thousand people are associated with the amla project.
LEVERAGING VAN DHAN KENDRAS
The initiative is benefiting the tribal population, too. One of the schemes of the central government is Pradhan Mantri Van Dhan Yojana. This scheme is completely for forest dependent tribes. It is an initiative to generate means of livelihood for the tribes by using non-timber forest produce. Under this scheme, 300 Van Dhan Kendras were set up in MP,out of which, 5 are in Panna.
Mr. Sharma said, “We have also formed Van Dhan Kendra Samiti and have made a contract, according to which, advance payment will be made to the account of the committee that will be given to all the workers.”
The hard work is already bearing fruits. The first premature gooseberry stopped breaking. Panna’s amla has started getting reasonable prices. And the best part is, it is being sold only under the name of ‘Panna’.
