With the financial support of SIDBI, Lucknow, the application for GI tag has been prepared by his team and Halwai Kalyan Samiti of Ayodhya is the applicant.
The district officials of Prayagraj have applied for a geographical indication (GI) tag for Moonj products under the 'One District One Product' scheme. Moonj products, made from a type of wild grass, are expected to receive a boost in exports after obtaining the GI tag. Currently, the Allahabadi guava is the only product from Prayagraj with a GI tag. The tag ensures that only authorized users can use the product name and protects against imitation. The ODOP initiative has already improved the lives of over 500 women workers in manufacturing Moonj products.
Despite being awarded a GI tag in 2018, farmers in India's Konkan region are concerned about the rampant adulteration of the Alphonso mango, or Hapus, with cheaper varieties. The GI tag was meant to protect the produce and give farmers legal protection, but the lack of strict enforcement of quality standards and inadequate monitoring and testing facilities has led to a rash of national and international variants being sold as Hapus. Farmers are calling for a collective effort to garner the benefits of the GI tag, including strict enforcement of quality standards and public awareness campaigns.
The wholesale APMC market in Vashi receives an average of over 40,000 mango boxes from the Konkan region daily. The region got the GI tag mark in 2020 and so several mango growers are supplying GI-tagged mangoes to the market.