Rigzin hails from Tingret village in Miyar Valley, and is fondly known as ‘Charma Auntie’ among the villagers. Along with other women in her community, she has been engaged in the traditional practice of collecting and processing seabuckthorn for many decades.
Until recently, they used to do it on a small scale for domestic use. In 2019, the SECURE Himalaya initiative by the UN Development Programme (UNDP), in partnership with the Government of India and the Global Environment Facility, reached out to Rigzin and community members to support them in developing a business model around seabuckthorn-based products.
The initiative is working in high-altitude Himalayan regions to conserve its rich biodiversity with active participation from the local community. An intervention was piloted where 15 women from the region created a self-help group (SHG) named ‘Khandoma.’ They were provided technological support for the processing of the raw materials and training in sustainable harvesting techniques, primary and secondary processing, packaging, and market linkage.
“Processing the berries after plucking them is a very laborious process. But, with this new equipment we are now able to make better products that fetch us more money,” says Rigzin as she puts the berries in a solar drier.
This activity also contributes towards climate action. The National Initiative on Seabuckthorn, under the Green India Mission, a part of India’s National Action Plan on Climate Change, seeks to promote seabuckthorn as a priority species for afforestation of degraded lands as well as ensuring good health and poverty alleviation in the Indian Himalayan region. Seabuckthorn nurseries are being developed to restore fragile and degraded areas of the Miyar Valley in collaboration with government line departments, local communities, and academic and research institutions.
“There are so many stakeholders working in silos. Through this intervention, we connected technical institutions such as the CSK Agriculture University, Palampur, with these women who were traditionally engaged in the practice of seabuckthorn processing. The Khandoma SHG, which is now also registered under the National Rural Livelihood Mission, was provided harvesting tools for the berries and technical support for product development through this intervention,” says Abhishek Kumar, Project Consultant, SECURE Himalaya, who has been working closely with the community to develop a seabuckthorn value chain.