Humble guar turns green gold
The guar seed has become a lubricant for the multibillion
shale oil and gas drilling where it’s used for the ‘fracking’ process
New Delhi: It used to be a
dry and arid land legume grown by poor farmers in Rajasthan, Haryana, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. Till a few years back, it
sold for as low as Rs 1,000 a quintal. Eaten either at home by farmers (some
may remember it as guar ki phalli) or sold off for export to be used as a
binding and thickening agent in edible products like ice creams,itsells nowfor
anything between Rs 10,000-Rs 30,000 a quintal.
The reason isthatthe guar seedhasbecome a lubricant for the multibillion shale oil and gas drilling where it’s used for the ‘fracking’ process.
The result is a frenzy that is connecting traders from Houston to Jodhpur and turning the obscure plant grown mostly on wastelands into a much sought after commodity. The rising prices and short supply is making farmers and business groups in the region push for more acreage.
India produces 80% of the global guar crop with Pakistan and the US following a distantsecond andthirdthough all are trying to increase acreage of the bean. Because it is a rainfed crop with relatively little organized market, upscaling production has not been a smooth process.
The demand for gum extracted from the guar seedor cluster bean asitisknown in English has risen so high on the commodities market that the regulator, Forward Markets Commission, has had to step in once to halt futures trade in illegal transactions.Theboom couldbetemporary as the shale oil and gas industry in the US, worth $30 billion, is furiously looking for alternatives as prices of guar go up.
In the meanwhile, there is a gold rush to make the most of the demand. Industry insiders suggest that for every rupee a trader invests at the local level — say at centres like Jodhpur or better still in the villages where marginal farmers are growing it — he could earn more than Rs 100.There areestablishedexporterswho have been supplying guar for the food industry for years and then there are the guar cowboys running to the arid zone even in soaring temperatures to get a share of the pie.
Thecontroversialshaleoildrilling in the US (the green brigade is set against it) is seen as the future of the fossil fuel driven world and the marginal small farmers in distant Jhunjhunu and Jodhpur in Rajasthan have become a part of that lucrative future.
The reason isthatthe guar seedhasbecome a lubricant for the multibillion shale oil and gas drilling where it’s used for the ‘fracking’ process.
The result is a frenzy that is connecting traders from Houston to Jodhpur and turning the obscure plant grown mostly on wastelands into a much sought after commodity. The rising prices and short supply is making farmers and business groups in the region push for more acreage.
India produces 80% of the global guar crop with Pakistan and the US following a distantsecond andthirdthough all are trying to increase acreage of the bean. Because it is a rainfed crop with relatively little organized market, upscaling production has not been a smooth process.
The demand for gum extracted from the guar seedor cluster bean asitisknown in English has risen so high on the commodities market that the regulator, Forward Markets Commission, has had to step in once to halt futures trade in illegal transactions.Theboom couldbetemporary as the shale oil and gas industry in the US, worth $30 billion, is furiously looking for alternatives as prices of guar go up.
In the meanwhile, there is a gold rush to make the most of the demand. Industry insiders suggest that for every rupee a trader invests at the local level — say at centres like Jodhpur or better still in the villages where marginal farmers are growing it — he could earn more than Rs 100.There areestablishedexporterswho have been supplying guar for the food industry for years and then there are the guar cowboys running to the arid zone even in soaring temperatures to get a share of the pie.
Thecontroversialshaleoildrilling in the US (the green brigade is set against it) is seen as the future of the fossil fuel driven world and the marginal small farmers in distant Jhunjhunu and Jodhpur in Rajasthan have become a part of that lucrative future.
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