Alphonso Mango - A Misinterpreted Geographical Indication..!

In an interesting turn of events a couple of months before, Alphonso has been granted a Geographical Indication and in a much celebrated event later, the Certificate of Registration was granted to the Applicant(s) in Delhi in the hands of Hon'ble Commerce Minister. 

I had blogged about the issue earlier here and here and here..!

Going by the facts there are three applicants who have sought to register Alphonso Mango as the Geographical Indication, namely- Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth (Appl. No. 139), Devgad Taluka Amba Utpadak Sahakari Sanstha Maryadit (Appl. No. 379), and Kelshi Parisar Amba Utpadak Sahakari Sanstha Maryadit (Appl. No. 497).

Appl. No. 139 sought protection of Alphonso Mango on a wide GI area which includes few districts of Gujarat, Konkan region of Maharashtra, North Karnataka and State of Goa. Later the Application was amended and GI area was confined to the limits of Konkan region of Maharashtra.

Appl. No. 379 sought protection of Devgad cultivar of Alphonso Mango covering Devgad Taluk as GI area.

Appl. No. 497 sought protection of Ratnagiri cultivar of Alphonso Mango covering Ratnagiri District as GI area.

Conflict arose with respect to whom the GI registration shall be granted?

If Appl. No. 139 gets registration then Alphonso as a whole gets generalized protection on the sought GI area. If Appl. No. 379 & 497 get registration, then the name Alphonso becomes generic nomenclature according to many.

Traditional and scientific facts tell us something else. Alphonso derived its name from Afonso de Albuquerque, the Portuguese explorer. He led the Portuguese invasion into India in the 1600s and therein the Portuguese introduced the Mango variety through grafts on Mango trees. Starting its journey in Goa, the Alphonso Mango traveled across the Western India. Later it became the treasure fiercely guarded by the locals. It can be observed that significant variation exists, among trees of the same clone in an orchard w.r.t. fruit shape, size, color, and quality ascribed to bud mutation. The generic divergence could be attributed to the differences in environmental and geographical conditions.

It has been popularly said that Mangoes take the color of the soil they are grown on and rightly so. Red, Iron rich alluvial soil in Ratnagiri district gives Ratnagiri Alphonso its characteristics color and flavour. High Silicon content in soil maintains the integrity of peel of Mango, while the Devgad Alphonso has a thin skin as compared. It has a narrow and slightly elongated bottom. This feature distinguishes it from other Alphonso Mangoes. Although visually similar to Ratnagiri and Devgad Alphonso Mangoes, other Alphonso varieties are grown on flat terrain and far away from sea shore and therefore differ characteristically (thick skin with less pulp) from the cultivars grown in Ratnagiri and Devgad on the red soil of the Konkan, surrounded by the salty sea breeze.

With these convincing arguments and supporting evidences, the GI Registry had accepted and advertised the applications of Ratanagiri and Devgad Alphonso Mangoes in Official Journal upon which Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth opposed the registration of the same.

Upon receiving the Opposition notice, the Applicants of Ratnagiri Alphonso Mango and Devgad Alphonso Mango have submitted their counter statements.

After which, a hearing was called for on 19^th April, 2018 wherein all three Applicants and representatives were invited to discuss and sort the issue. Registrar of Geographical Indications himself presided over the meeting and certain directions were issued in this regard. As a consequence of this hearing, advertised applications of Ratnagiri Alphonso Mango and Devgad Alphonso Mango were withdrawn. However, no written communication was made to the respective Applicants in this regard.

An Official Memorandum was issued in the month of May, 2018 wherein it was informed that all the three applications will be merged into one application. The said memorandum did not actually issue the clear directions as discussed in the said hearing conducted in April, 2018.

Now, on 3^rd October, 2018, in an unprecedented event, Hon’ble Commerce & Industry Minister’s Twitter handle reported a registration certificate for merged GI application bearing no. 139 bearing name of Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth as the sole proprietor of the Alphonso Mango GI. Going by the procedure, the said Certificate should have been uploaded on the official website of GI registry. It was nowhere to be found except on Twitter.

On 4^th October, 2018, Twitter handles of CGPDTM (Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademark) and DIPP (Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion) issued another registration certificate containing name of four applicants as the registered proprietors of Alphonso Mango GI.

This has lead to a huge confusion among masses as to how one can identify the Alphonso Mango coming from a particular territory of Konkan region when all Mangoes from Konkan are going to be labeled as Alphonso..

Isn’t it defeating the whole purpose of registering a Geographical Indication? The said act of concerned authorities might lead to create even bigger problems to genuine producers of Alphonso Mango from Ratnagiri district and Devgad tehsil.

What was the reason for such a haste! Have the Authorities completely missed the whole point of recognizing communities' interest keeping in mind consumers' demand and likes?

Farmers are not even aware what ACTUALLY has happened..how will they derive benefit then..? Even the time won't be able to answer this..

~until next time~

Cheers...!