Tripura is eyeing beyond the production of raw materials for incense sticks. The State is no longer keen to remain restricted in producing the raw materials but looking forward to manufacturing agarbatti and venture into the market with a bang.
The State Government is taking steps to manufacture agarbatti by extracting naturally produced scented materials from the cultivation of scented crops like lemon. After packaging in an attractive manner, it is planned to venture into the markets with high quality agarbatti.
Agarbatti industry is expanding fast and Tripura which has a distinctive advantage in making agarbatti raw materials like incense sticks is expecting to grab the opportunity. Also existence of abundant Agar trees in the State will be another major advantage.
As part of this initiative, a five-day long workshop has been organized at the office of Bamboo and Cane Development Institute in Agartala. More than 70 artisans involved in making incense sticks or Dhup Kathi (raw material) participated in the workshop.
Fragrance and Flavour Development Corporation (FFDC) sent one trainer Sunil Yadav to train the artisans.
Speaking about the workshop, Yadav said, Tripura has a huge potentiality in cultivation of scanted crops. After production of such crops, farmers would be able to earn extra income by using the extracted scanted material from the crops.
“Besides, these scanted materials can be used in manufacturing the agarbatti”, Yadav said and added, “The participants also acquired knowledge in the workshop about manufacturing good quality agarbatti from the natural scanted materials and attractive packaging”.
At present, Tripura is producing sticks for agarbatti. According to the information available with the Tripura Industries Development Corporation (TIDC), around 3000 kg sticks for agarbatti are being produced in the State.
Now, the trained artisans would be able to manufacture agarbatti and become a part of a growing market.
