15.5.13

GI status for Bangalore Blue grapes



The famed Bangalore Blue grapes, exclusively grown in districts around the city, has been conferred the Geographical Indication (GI) status. The move comes three years after the state’s horticulture department submitted its first detailed proposals to Chennai’s Office of the Controller-General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks, seeking GI tag.
Bangalore Blue, characterized by its foxy flavour, is exclusively grown in Bangalore Urban, Chikkaballapur and Kolar districts. Its cultivation has been going on for the past 150 years in about 5,000 hectares in these areas. The livelihood of over 15,000 farmers in the Nandi Valley depends on their cultivation. Bangalore Blue got the GI tag (Geographical Indication no 211) for its specific geographic and indigenous variety. “If the grapes are grown in any other area it will be devoid of its characteristic flavour and colour,” said Dr P Sampath Kumar, principal scientist (horticulture), Division of Fruit Crops, Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Hessaraghatta.
Authentic Bangalore Blue grapes need to be grown in red sandy loam soil at a day temperature of about 35-37 degrees Celsius and night temperature of 12-15 degree Celsius, something unique to Bangalore and its surrounding areas. “The grapes develop their typical colour and slip skin nature (thin skin) at this temperature,” Sampath Kumar said. While more than 4.5 lakh tonnes of Bangalore Blue grapes are produced annually, most of it is used for table purposes – raw consumption, making jams and jellies etc. Only about 4,000 tonnes are purchased by the wine industry.

So far, 11 horticultural crops of Karnataka have already received the GI tag, according to the department. They are the Nanjangud rasabale (plantain), Coorg mandarin (orange), Mysore betel leaf, Mysore jasmine, Udupi jasmine and Hadagali jasmine (Bellary district), Devanahalli chakotha (pomelo), Sagar appemidi (baby mango), Kamalapur red banana (Gulbarga) and Mattu Gulla brinjal (Udupi). A detailed proposal for conferring GI status to Bangalore Rose Onion has been submitted by the horticulture department. “We are expecting a GI status for Rose Onion soon,” said Chetan Raj,assistant horticulture officer.

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