Area under Seabuckthorn, a medicinal plant rich in bio-molecules, vitamins and nutritive properties and popularly known as ‘Leh Berry', has been assessed at 11,500 hectares in the Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir.
“The Field Research Laboratory (FRL) Leh through recent satellite imaging and mapping techniques has assessed an area of about 11,500 hectares under Seabuckthorn in Ladakh region,” a report of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) on State Focus Paper of Jammu and Kashmir said.
There is huge potential to setting up units to prepare juices, oils and other items from Seabuckthorn in Ladakh region to give fillip to the economy of the region.
The Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC), Leh in association with local authorities has set up three units — two in nobra Block and one in Leh belt – to manufacture juices of high medicinal, nutritive and vitamin value besides some oils.
The Block Level Cooperative consumer stores in Nobra and 12 village level cooperative and marketing societies were assigned the job of collection and processing of berries to pulp under the overall guidance of Registrar of Cooperative Societies, the report said.
Leh-based FRL has already patented the process of manufacture of Seabuckthorn juice in Ladakh, it said.
Seabuckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides) popularly known as Leh berry or Chhermang or Cherma in Ladakh and Lauhul Spiti is a miracle 2-4 meter bush growing wild in high altitude areas of Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir, the report said.
All the parts of this plant are store house of bio-molecules, which have immense medicinal properties and hence every part of the plant is useful, it said.
The small berries of this bush are rich in its nutritive and medicinal properties and the berries of seabuckthorn are a rich source of vitamins.