Pashmina: the future is warm
Pashmina is a the most valued export of Ladakh. This soft underfleece of a breed of goat is highly prized for its softness, lightness and warmth. It is the goat's natural response to the extreme cold on the Changthang plateau. Several historians have noted the vital role of pashm in the politics of the region vis-a-vis Kashmir. It continues to be so, especially as Ladakh tries to get more income for the poor Changpa nomads, who rear the pashm goats in the extreme conditions of Changthang and sell away the raw material. This is made into expensive shawls in Kashmir. The nomads get little while pashmina shawls are a major source of income in Kashmir. Now, Leh's Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) is trying to promote value addition to pashm, and the Jammu and Kashmir government is not cooperating.
Pashm rates in the past decade have hovered between Rs 1,000 and Rs 2,000 per kg. Ladakh contributes just one per cent of the global pashm market. China has a 60 per cent share, Mongolia 20 per cent, and Iran, Afghanistan and Russia account for the rest. There is a scope to increase the pashm production fivefold if the severely deteriorated pasture is managed properly, says Puntsog Angchuk of Leh district's sheep husbandry department.
Dehairing pashm is labour-intensive and expensive. Dehaired pashm has more value. The LAHDC has proposed a pashmina dehairing and processing plant in Leh. It is a part of a Rs 8.25 crore project called Pashmina Development Project (PDP) sanctioned in September 24, 2001 by the Union ministry of textiles, which is providing 18 per cent of the funds. The United Nations Development Programme is providing 40 per cent, and the LAHDCis providing the remaining 42 per cent.
The plant will be run by a co-operative group called All Changthang Pashmina Growers Marketing Society. The cooperative group will sell the processed pashmina directly without involving middlemen. This will ensure that the benefits go to the nomads in Changthang.
Tadbar Jolden, deputy registrar of Leh's department of cooperative societies, says some 5,000 kg of pashmina has been procured from the Kharnak nomads at relatively a low rate of Rs 12.50 per kg. This procurement has been done at prevailing market trends. Jolden hopes for 80-90 per cent profit after the dehairing. This profit would go back to the nomads. The dehaired pashm could be supplied to wool companies such as as Oswal and Raymond. The National Conference government in Jammu and Kashmir that was voted out in the elections last year had proposed a ban on the dehairing plant, arguing that pashm dehaired in machines was inferior in quality. The LAHDC resisted this and succeeded in going ahead. It is hoped that the plant would be functional by the 2004 summer.