740 crores spent on asafoetida imports- Asafoetida is one of the major spices and is a high -value spice crop in Hing Cultivation in India. India imports about 1200 tonnes of raw asafetida annually from Afghanistan, Iran and Uzbekistan and spends about US $ 100 million per year.
Asafoetida cultivation started in India- In India, the lack of planting material of plants named Ferula Asa-Fotida was a major hurdle in the cultivation of this crop. In order to introduce the cultivation of Asfotida (asafoetida) in India, on October 15, 2020, the first plant of Asfotida (Hing) was planted by Dr. Sanjay Kumar, Director of CSIR -IHBT, Dr. Sanjay Kumar, in a farmer named Quaraning of Lahaul Valley.
Since Asafotida (asafetida) is a major spice of the Indian kitchen, the CSIR -IHBT team made tireless efforts to start this important crop in the country. In October 2018, the institute started using six bunchs of seeds brought from Iran through ICAR-National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (ICAR-NBPGR), New Delhi.
ICAR-NBPGR confirmed that this was the first attempt to use Asfotida (Ferulla Asa-Fotida) seeds in the last thirty years. ICAR-IHBT grown asafetida plants at CEHAB, Ribbing, Lahaul and Spiti in Himachal Pradesh under the supervision of NBPGR.
This plant prefers cold and dry conditions for its growth and it takes about five years to produce a resin named Olio-Gum in its roots. This is the reason that the cold desert areas of the Indian Himalayan region are suitable for the cultivation of Asafotida (asafoetida).
Kachchi Asafotida (asafoetida) is extracted from the fleshy roots of Ferula asa-phosetida as Olio-Gum Ral. Yo is found in the world about 130 species of Ferula, but Ferula Asa-Fetidis is used only for an economically important species for the production of Asafotida (asafetida).
In India, we do not have Ferulla Aspotida, but its other species Ferula Jessene is found in the Western Himalayas (Chamba, Himachal Pradesh) and Ferulula Northx in Kashmir and Ladakh, which are not species of Asfotida (asafoetida).
Scientists of CSIR-IHBT also organized training programs related to asafetida cultivation and formed demonstration plots in villages named Madgaran, Binga and Killong in Lahaul Valley, Himachal Pradesh in collaboration with the establishment of seed production chain and on commercial scale.
Asafoetida is made from raw materials coming from abroad- Shyam Prasad, a resident of Hathras and asafoetida, says, resine (milk) comes from Iran, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. This milk comes out from a plant. Earlier traders used to bring milk directly to Hathras. But now Khari Babli area of Delhi has become a big market. But the process of process is still done in Hathras. 15 big and 45 small units are doing this work. Olio-gum resin (milk) is processed from the plant with maida. Some units have also opened in Kanpur too. Apart from the asafetida country in the country, there is export in Gulf country Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain etc.