Raipur, 16 February 2022. In Chhattisgarh every year 5 lakh quintals of Mahua flowers worth about Rs 170 crores are collected. Due to its quality and the convenience of new technology etc. being given by the state government, its fragrance has started spreading not only in the country but even abroad.
According to the intention of the Chief Minister Shri Bhupesh Baghel, under the guidance of Minister for Forest and Climate Change Shri Mohammad Akbar, continuous efforts are being made to provide maximum benefits to the forest dwellers in the state through works ranging from collection of minor forest produce to processing etc. In this episode, a process has been developed by the State Minor Forest Produce Association to make Mahua fruit edible i.e. food grade Mahua flower. So that the forest dwellers can get maximum income from the collection of Mahua flower.
Villagers will get Rs 50 per kg instead of Rs 33 per kg for Mahua flower collected with advanced technology developed by the Sangh in place of the traditionally stored Mahua flower. Similarly, the collectors are getting Rs 116 per kg of food grade Mahua obtained as a result of following advanced technology in forest produce collection and processing work.
It is worth mentioning that in the year 2022, with the target of collecting 2000 quintals of food grade Mahua flowers, advance tenders have been issued for sale in the union. In the first phase, 1150 quintals of Mahua flowers were sold at the rate of Rs 116 per kg. Thus, food grade Mahua flowers worth Rs 1.33 crore were sold in the first phase. In this episode, a private institution in UK has purchased 750 quintals and action is being taken to prepare the said Mahua based product. Tender is going on for sale under the second phase, which can be seen in the website of the association.
Principal Secretary Forest Shri Manoj Pingua and Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Shri Rakesh Chaturvedi informed that to give benefit to Mahua flower collectors, the State Government has announced a minimum support price of Rs 33 per kg this year, which is Rs 3 per kg from last year. is more. With the further increase in the collection of food grade Mahua in the state, the collecting villagers will get maximum benefit from it. At present, Mahua sanitizer is being manufactured at Jashpur, a Mahua based processing center set up by the union. Similarly, at Mahua Processing Center Rajnandgaon, Mahua Laddu, Juice, Cookies, Chocolate, Pickle, Jam etc. are being prepared and sold in the name of ‘Chhattisgarh Herbals’.
In this regard, Managing Director State Minor Forest Produce Association Shri Sanjay Shukla informed that a process has been developed by the State Minor Forest Produce Association to make Mahua flower edible. Under this, Mahua flowers have been collected by tying a collection net around the Mahua tree. Mahua flowers will be collected by the State Minor Forest Produce Association at the rate of Rs.10 (Rs.50 per kg dry flowers) per kg. The cleaned fresh Mahua flower thus collected will be dried in the Solat tunnel near the Vandhan Kendra. By this process the edible Mahua flower will be stored without soil, dust free.
At present, Mahua flowers are used here to make country liquor. Due to the importance given to forest produce processing by the state government, research has been started on it through the State Minor Forest Produce Association. With the help of CFTRI, Mysore, technology has been developed for making products like Mahua Energy Bar, Mahua Jaggery, etc. For this, the related industries will be set up soon in the Central Processing Unit in Patan area.
