Growing of “GI tag” Lakadong Turmeric outside Jaintia Hills region illegal

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaOctober 31, 2024

The Meghalaya Government has warned that the growing of Lakadong Turmeric outside the designated geographical area of East Jaintia Hills District and West Jaintia Hills District to further market and sales as ‘Lakadong Turmeric’ as illegal and will be considered an infringement as defined in sections 22.1 and 22.3 of the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration And Protection) Act, 1999.

This was informed in a public notice issued by Dr Vijay Kumar, Commissioner and Secretary, Meghalaya Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Department.

According to public notice, the Registrar of Geographical Indications (GI), Chennai has officially granted the coveted Gl tag no. 741 to Lakadong Turmeric falling in class-30 spice turmeric registered in the name of Lakadong Turmeric Cooperative Union Limited at Jowai, West Jaintia Hills -793150, Meghalaya in March 2024.

Kumar said that the recognition is a matter of pride and is also important for protecting the authenticity of Lakadong Turmeric.

The public notice informed the Gl status accorded to Lakadong Turmeric stands to safeguard the traditional methods and knowledge, ensuring that only Lakadong turmeric produced within the designated geographical area i,e West Jaintia Hills and East Jaintia Hills districts of Meghalaya can use the Gl tag.

However, with the popularity of Lakadong Turmeric soaring in both National and Global markets, there has been a concerning trend of mislabeling and marketing turmeric products which are not sourced from the State as ‘Lakadong Turmeric’.

Further, the department has also received reports regarding branding and marketing of turmeric grown outside the State as ‘Lakadong Turmeric’.

Kumar informed the department is working towards enhancing the brand visibility and authenticity of Lakadong Turmeric through the Gl status, such malpractices and infringement creates customer confusion and tarnishes the image, quality and unique characteristics of Lakadong Turmeric and leads to financial loss for the farmers.

The public notice said in the interest of the genuine growers and registered authorized users, only ‘registered proprietor’ and ‘authorized users’ as defined in Chapter l, section 2, sub-section 1 (n) and sub section 1 (b) respectively shall have exclusive rights to the use of the geographical indication tag of ‘Lakadong Turmeric’.

Kumar said that action will be taken on person(s) / defaulter(s) found to be falsifying and/or falsely applying the geographical indication as defined in sections 38, 39 and 40 of the Act.