There is a good news for the Devgad Alphonso growers who were eagerly waiting for Geographical Indicator (GI) registration for Devgad Alphonso mangoes, they can avail this GI registration which would insulate Devgad Mango title and prevent other sellers to sell mangoes in its name.
The assistant registrar of GI at Indian Patent office in Mumbai heard the applications from three entities, including Devgad Taluka Mango Growers Cooperative Society (DTMGCS) Ltd, Kelshi Mango Growers Society which represents Ratnagiri Alphonso mango growers and Konkan agricultural university.
Omkar Sapre, member of the board of directors from DTMGCS Ltd, who heads the team looking after GI application process for the society told dna that the hearing went on for three hours and assistant registrar has admitted our claims. "As per the requirement of the GI registration, we have presented the National Chemical Laboratory report as well as a research paper by a researcher from Dharwad."
The DTMGCS Ltd had filed the GI application back in 2012. There have been two consultative group meetings of experts, one at Hyderabad and the other at Chennai, Sapre informed adding: "In recent past, mangoes from many areas are being sold as Devgad Alphonso to attract more customers." He said that after finding out that the mangoes are not good, customers blame Devgad. "For this reason the Society had decided to approach patent office to avail GI registration which would not allow others to sell mangoes in the name of Devgad Mangoes," he said.
He said out that Konkan Agricultural University is also trying to get GI for Alphonso with a claim that Alphonso from all the places and different geographical locations is same. "Even if one goes by their logic (which is not true), other people should not use the words 'Devgad Alphonso' while selling mangoes. He said that his society has taken strong exception for selling mangoes as Haapus and has suggested the registration office that the respective places should be asked to put a pre-fix showing the GI of the place where mango is grown so that the consumers are not cheated in the name of Devgad Alphonso mangoes.
