Raipur, 21 June 2021. Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel has asked the Bastar district government to promote the cultivation of peppermint along with the cultivation of lemongrass under the Community Development Bari program, so that the farmers can get more benefits. Chief Minister Mr. Baghel was discussing with the women of self-help groups doing community cultivation of papaya and aromatic in Bastar district on the occasion of inauguration of works costing 642 crore and Bhoomi Pujan program in Bastar, Bijapur, Sukma district today.
Preparations are being made for cultivation of lemongrass in 50 acres by the women self-help group of medicinal producers in village Dhodhrepal of Bakwand block of Bastar district. Manmati Goyal, a member of the group, told that there are 20 members in their group. Litchi cultivation will also be done by his group. He told that lemongrass has to be planted once. After sufficient height of the grass, its leaves are cut from the upper part of the root and lemon oil is obtained from its distillation. Whose market price at present is one thousand rupees per liter. After harvesting lemongrass, the leaves start growing again and after a few months they are ready for harvesting again. This process continues for 5 years, that is, once lemongrass is planted, it has been producing production for 5 years. The distillation of lemongrass produced per acre yields 70-80 liters of oil in the first year, while the distillation of its leaves from the second to the fifth year yields 85-90 liters of oil per acre. An income of about Rs 4 lakh per acre can be earned by extracting oil from lemongrass in five years. Chief Minister Shri Baghel directed to promote the cultivation of peppermint in Bakwand as well as make arrangements for setting up of plants for processing of lemongrass. On this occasion, MoU was signed between local farmers, committee and SunAgro for marketing in the presence of public representatives of Bastar region.
