Many of us are quite aware about the Mahua tree. But not many would know is that it holds a special significance for the tribals of Chhattisgarh. Whether it is the tree itself, its fruits, or even its seeds, all of these constitute the main sources of income for the tribals. They usually collect Mahua material from the forests and dry it up. After the process is completed, they sell it in the market.
But although many tribal families in the state are dependent on this Indian tropical tree, the profit they manage to obtain through its cultivation and trading through traditional methods is not much.
Recently, for the first time Mahua has been exported abroad. One consignment has been sent to France. At the same time, with the help of the officials of Chhattisgarh Government, Mahua is being grown and collected in a modern way. This has brought many changes in the lives of the tribals.
MAHUA TREE
2018 batch IFS officer Thejes Sekhar, posted in the Bastar region of Chhattisgarh, recently proclaimed on Twitter, “On an average each household in Bastar region of Chhattisgarh has rights over 5-7 Mahua trees from which they collect the flowers annually. These fleshy flowers, oblong shaped and pale yellow coloured, fall between February and May every year.”
According to him, the way these flowers are collected is also very strange. He further writes, “Mahua flowers are collected by firing the ground below the tree so that, against the black charred ground these cute white little things are easily visible. Tribals in Bastar traditionally did NOT fire the ground to collect these flowers, the practice seeped in later.”
The fire used for Mahua is a major cause of concern for the forests in central India as it causes huge damage to forests, biodiversity and the environment.
Mr Thejes explains, “The collected flowers are then dried and made into wine. These flowers are also sold and bought in the markets. The tribals store dried mahua flowers in an airtight manner using safflower leaves to preserve them for at least a year under traditional methods.”
Mahua flowers collected from the ground contain a lot of dust mites and dirt, due to which such flowers are suitable only for making liquor.
THE CHANGE
In today’s time, the Forest Department in Chhattisgarh is engaged in collecting Mahua by putting nets under the trees. With this method, pure Mahua is stored and fire is also not used in the process. Therefore, the risk of forest fire has also been reduced to some extent. Along with this, by setting up the nets the tribals have also been set free from the toil of hours of picking mahua.
Explains Mr Thejes,“Most of the Mahua pickers are tribal women. They would toil all day to collect these flowers, even in the scorching summer sun.”
But even then, when the income from Mahua is abysmally low, the tribal families suffer when they miss out on the Mahua picking season. However, after the Forest Department adopted the new process of picking Mahua in Chhattisgarh, the food grade Mahua is collected and a big increase in its value has also been seen lately.
THE USAGE
Through this new technique, Self Help Groups (SHGs) are now making innovative Mahua products such as jam, laddus, energy bars and Cookies. It’s through their efforts that the first consignment of Mahua flowers has been exported to France.
One would hope this is just the beginning.
