Leh: For the people of Ladakh, Pashmina wool is more than just a product—it’s a symbol of identity and a major engine for economic prosperity.
Though Ladakh is the sole region in India that produces this prized wool, its people are still striving for full recognition of that fact, and helping the cause is a cooperative society that looks after the production and marketing of the super-fine wool.
The All Changthang Pashmina Growers Cooperative Marketing Society has been working since 1995 to ensure that the Pashmina wool fetches the maximum price for its producers, the nomadic herders of Ladakh.
Since 2004, the cooperative has been procuring the raw wool from these herders and processing it into the finest Pashmina wool at its plant here, an official said.
“Our main purpose of this cooperative is to fetch the maximum and remunerative prices for this Changthang product, Pashmina. And to achieve that, we have been consistently working. Managing to sustain and survive is a testimony of the success,” the cooperative society’s general secretary Thinless Nurboo told PTI here.
There are two pockets where Pashmina wool is produced, and Changthang is the major one, he said.
“History of Pashmina has been very interesting…when we were with Jammu and Kashmir, we were in a larger state. And I believe we were seeking UT to find identity not just for ourselves, but also for our economy and products. So, I think Pashmina is definitely a product which has been finding its own identity,” Nurboo said, stressing the importance of this unique product for the people here.
The Geographical Indication (GI) certification of Pashmina wool has been a boost, though some technical processes are still to be completed, he added.
Nurboo said the sourcing of raw wool is done from 600-650 families across Ladakh.
From owners of international brands to local self-help groups (SHGs) and weavers, they procure the refined wool from the cooperative society.
“A lot of international brands keep coming and asking for quotations. One of the major clients for the last 2-3 years has been the Italian entity Brunello Cucinelli. They are not only buying the Pashmina but also supporting this whole nomadic lifestyle,” the cooperative official said.
Explaining the production season and process, he said the “goats and sheep are combed of their undercoat by herders between June and July when these animals naturally shed wool”.
The raw wool is transported to the processing unit here, and finished Pashmina wool is delivered from the facility after multiple stages of refinement between August and October, he said.
Seventeen metric tonnes of raw wool were procured from herders last year, with the grade A raw material bought at Rs 4,600 per kg.
The grade B raw wool is paid Rs 150 per kg less than the superior variety annually.
One kg of raw wool produces 250-300 gms of fine Pashmina wool, with last year’s processed wool selling at Rs 18,000 per kg, the cooperative official said.
Nurboo said the previous year’s buying price is taken as the minimum selling price for the herders in a particular year, while for the final Pashmina wool, a 5-7 per cent increase in market rate is considered.
“Any profit that the cooperative makes is given back to the goat herders,” he added.
While the cooperative has been handholding the herders in various ways, like providing feed for goats, tents for keepers, the government has also chipped in by providing land, infrastructure and staffers for the processing unit here, Nurboo said.
Asked if there has been a decline in nomadic goat herders’ population over the years, he said, “In this fast-changing world, I believe migration has become a very general phenomenon. The same has been with Changthang. But with the existence of cooperatives like ours, the scale of migration has decreased.”
He said the All Changthang Pashmina Growers Cooperative Marketing Society is the only cooperative that processes Pashmina wool in Ladakh, which is the sole producer of the super-fine wool in India, with the country accounting for 1 per cent of its global production.
The authorities are also working on quality control, including DNA testing of the goats and sheep, to maintain the uniqueness of the product, Nurboo added.
With the processing unit to start its annual production soon, its staffers are getting ready to extract from the fleece the ‘soft gold’, as Pashmina is often called.
The term originates from the Persian word ‘pashm’, meaning ‘soft gold’.
