Role of Ginger in Socio-Economic Development of Lower Dibang Valley

Ginger is a treasured preservative, spice and flavoring agent. It is used at length in pickles, sauces, cakes, cookies, jams and marmalades, brine, candies, ginger ale, ginger beer, curries, tea and many other food items. In addition, Ginger has been appreciated as therapeutic spice from ancient times. Ginger, one of the most known emerging cash crops with high business and marketing potentiality has been under cultivation since time immemorial in Lower Dibang Valley district of Arunachal Pradesh due to its conducive climate. However, it is interesting to know that, at the beginning; it has been used as local spice, and was considered an inevitable object in performing cultural rituals. It has been widely used in different cultural and social occasions like marriage ceremony, festival, offering and sacrifice to Good and devil spirits. From early 1990, saga of ginger cultivation took a new turn, as large-scale cultivation and thereby, commercialization had picked up momentum in lower Dibang valley district of Arunachal Pradesh. Significant percentages of about 60% of every household undertake ginger cultivation, and on average 25% of dry cultivable land are used for it in Lower Diba.