Reforming Guar Industry in India: Issues and Strategies§

There is a high year-to-year variation in production of guar, and consequently, in exports of guar and its derivatives. Guar gum is mainly used in the food and bakery industry, the food safety concerns are becoming important for the guar processing industry. The preparedness of guar split and guar gum manufacturing industries for these food safety concerns, high fluctuations in area, production and productivity of guar seed, high volatile prices of guar seed and gum splits, are crucial limitations to the growth of guar industry. The paper has discussed these issues and strategies in guar value chain and guar gum processing industry. Lack of technical knowledge and processing technology for industry-specific value-added products, poor market linkages with farmers and unstable trade policies are the main issues confronting the guar industry. The paper has given some suggestions for reforming guar industry in India.