Good news for The city of Aroma | Fusion - WeRIndia

Kannauj, the oldest traditional fragrance capital of India is also the oldest place which produced attar. Due to the over usage of sandalwood forest in Karnataka by smugglers, the country has made a ban on the use of sandalwood. This affected the attar industry which is based on Sandalwood oil. However, The Fragrance and Flavour Development Centre (FFDC) setup by the central government in the year 1991 has been successfully growing sandalwood trees officially after they found a purple patch several years later. This is a 23 acre campus which has around 150 sandalwood saplings. Some of these are over 10 feet tall. This is a good news for attar industry.

Another good news is that a thousand more trees are being nurtured by farmers and those in attar business in Kannauj itself. It takes twenty years to harvest a tree. As a result, the price of sandalwood oil is as high as Rs. 90,000 for a kg. These trees are like pure gold for those in the fragrance industry. The FDCC helps the farmers and the industry in growing, sustaining, and cultivation of aromatic plants. The FDCC aims to make this industry competitive both locally and globally.

Image by Bishnu Sarangi from Pixabay (Free for commercial use)

Image Reference: https://pixabay.com/fr/photos/bois-de-santal-indien-santalum-album-332884/