The Salem Starch and Sago Manufacturers Service Industrial Co-operative Society Limited, popularly known as Sagoserve, has applied for geographical indication (GI) tag for Salem Sago (Javvarisi).
On behalf of the society, the application for the GI tag was filed by P. Sanjai Gandhi, IPR Attorney and nodal officer for Geographical Indication Registration of products, Government of Tamil Nadu.
Chinnaraja G. Naidu, Deputy Registrar of Geographical Indications, confirmed that an application seeking GI tag for Salem Sago was filed this week. “Till date, we have registered 41 applications from Tamil Nadu and four applications have been advertised in the journal and awaiting clearance. Six more are pending for getting reply from the applicant. Recently, we received an application for Jaderi Namakatti,” he said.
The Salem Sago is made from wet starch powder crushed from Tapioca roots. Around 30-35% of starch content is said to be found in the Indian Tapioca root.
If GI tag is granted for this product, it will boost business for the farmers in this region and the over-400 sago and starch units in Salem, Erode, Nammakal and Dharmapuri belts, said those who have been in this business for several decades in the Salem region.
The Salem district uses almost 35,000 hectares of land for the cultivation of tapioca and the yield stands at 25-30 tonnes per hectare. Sago has low calorific value (310 kcal/100g) and its size generally ranges from 2 to 4.5 mm. One kg tapioca sago can be produced from 5kg of tapioca tubers.
Details furnished by Mr. Gandhi in the application show that in 1943, a person named Manickam Chettiar from Salem who was cultivating tapioca found that its flour can be used to make sago. This is how the journey of sago began. With the help of M. Venkatachalam Gounder ( a mechanic), Mr. Manickam Chettiar improvised the methods and machinery for production. The production capacity then went up from two bags of 100kg per day to 25 bags per day.
The application also highlighted that sago production has contributed extensively to the development of the economy of Salem from the year 1967. Currently over 80% of sago in India is produced in the Salem region and a majority of this is marketed through Sagoserve, while the rest are through direct sales.
Sago is used in various industries, including food, paper, construction, textile, cosmetic, pharmaceutical, mining, and alcohol, among others.