The Fibre Crop

Hope you remember a post I did on a fibre crop, locally called Ghudrum about which I was seeking more information. 

Over the last month, we found out about the crop being grown in the region around Purulia, West Bengal. 

We visited the area last week. Below are the snaps from the visit . . .

Walking to the ghudrum fields. You can see them far away

The fruit . . .

On removing the red covering, the fruit which contains the seeds

Another variety of ghudrum

Mr. Jagadeesh Hansdak who was our resource person

Another view of the plant

Now, what did we find . . . The crop seems to be an unexplored goldmine.

There is a myriad of products which you can get out of the plant . . . Below is the list . . .

FRUIT - The outer rinds of the fruit (red colored) can be used to make a variety of jams and jellies. When the fruit is dried, the rind is used to make curry powder. The seed,which is inside the rind is used to make cooking oil. And it was being traditionally used in the villages to make cooking oil. 

STEM - Once dried, you can obtain flax from it, which is again used for various uses. Starting from ropes, all the way to clothing. The only issue is that nobody has taken it up seriously. 

Now, I understood that there are scientists at the University of Jhadavpur, Central Institute of Jute and Allied Fibres, Barrackpore and the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur who've worked on this plant. We wait for detailed information. 

Kindly let us know the contact details of anybody who knows more about this plant.