LOOKING BEYOND BREW

Nagpur: For centuries, mahua has been looked upon as a source to make traditional brew. Prohibition in Chandrapur has opened a Pandora’s Box for the non-timber forest produce (NTFP), which otherwise should also be looked at as a health food.
For 122 years, mahua has been under the shackles of prohibition and it is high time government frees it from restrictions and promote its nutritional values and health benefits.The restrictions on mahua imposed in 1893 by Britishers continue even today owing to the stigma that these sweet flowers are best source of making country spirit.
There are unconfirmed reports that prohibition has pushed demand for mahua liquor. However, experts fighting to give mahua its due say there is more to it than just brew.
“It is the government which is to be blamed. It has hardly created an environment to promote mahua’s nutritional value and health benefits. By imposing restrictions, it has stigmatized mahua,” says Ajay Dolke of Srujan, who promoted ‘mahua banks’ in Yavatmal to produce non-alcoholic foods.
Scientist-activist and president of Academy of Nutrition Improvement (ANI), Dr Shantilal Kothari, is fighting for the cause for the last 20 years. He had even organized competitions to promote mahua food products. “Mahua has multiple values but restrictions have deprived tribals to become self-sustained,” says Dr Kothari.
“I fail to understand that when government has no problem in promoting liquor made from fermented jowar, wheat, grapes, orange, kaju (feni), tadi, nira etc, why the stigma with mahua then?” says Dr Kothari. He frowns at restrictions on mahua, which he says has only gifted unemployment and poverty to the tribals. Tribals who toil in agriculture fields consider liquor made from mahua as an energetic drink.
Kothari says despite knowing value of mahua, respective governments did not educate people about it and looked at it as a source of liquor only. “They behaved like ‘gulams’ by following the Raj Era policy. The British Act of 1893 came to be known as Bombay Mhowa Flowers Rules on June 22, 1950, but the 122-year-old restrictions still continue. Various Acts are amended but mahua is not being made free,” he says.
The problem is that as per the Bombay Prohibition Act, 1949, a tribal in schedule areas cannot store more than 25kg mahua flowers at a time. He can store 75kg in case of special purposes that too with permission from gram panchayat. The Act also says that tribals can produce liquor for personal consumption and serve it as traditional drink only at social functions for guests.
Other than the above two conditions, a tribal cannot store more than 5kg mahua flowers. Storage over 5kg will require a prior permission from district collector. “This is being done to favour liquor lobbies. You are allowing tribals to collect mahua but are tying their hands by saying don’t store, thus forcing them to sell entire produce to traders,” says Dolke.
“The government needs to take a lead to remove the stigma about mahua by telling people that these flowers don’t mean liquor and can be used for making food products like sauce, khir, chutney, jam, jelly, pickle, puran poli, sugar syrup etc,” Dolke says. There are over 35 products which can be made from mahua. It is also used as animal fodder.
Neighbouring Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh are considered as the biggest mahua producing states but there are no restrictions on the flowers there. Rich people consume kishmish (dry fruits of grapes) but natives of Chhattisgarh eat dry mahua flowers as a substitute to kishmish.
Traditional healers consider mahua fruits for patients having blood related troubles. This is the reason it is given as supplementary medicine to patients having sickle cell anaemia. Healers use liquor prepared from mahua externally in order to stop bleeding in patients having haemophilia.
Mahua is highly nutritious. As per the National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) under the ICMR, 100 gram of mahua flowers have 73.6 gm of water, 1.40 gm protein, 1.60 gm fat, 0.70 gm mineral, 22.70 gm carbohydrate, 111 kilo calories, 45 mg calcium, 22 mg phosphorus, 0.23 mg iron, 307 micro gram vitamin A and 40 mg and vitamin C. It even beats amla, grapes and apple, which are considered as healthy.
Looking at mahua’s potential to change lives of rural folks, the issue was raised by a dozen BJP MLAs from Vidarbha in the winter session of assembly. They sought to know why mahua-based units are not being promoted here.
In reply, state forest minister Sudhir Mungantiwar admitted that though tribals have right to collect mahua, restrictions under Bombay Prohibition Act, 1949, are a hurdle.
Yet, on an experimental basis, mahua collection centre has been set in Chandala in Gadchiroli in 2013, where the produce is purchased at minimum support price (MSP) through joint forest management committee (JFMC). The centre is making sharbat, jam and jelly from mahua. “Over 17 men and women are getting employment. The JFMC is earning a profit of Rs40,000 per month after deducting expenses,” said Mungantiwar.
However, the Gadchiroli experiment is not being replicated elsewhere. But there are exceptions like Nagzira women self-help group (SHG) in Sondlagondi in Navegaon-Nagzira Tiger Reserve (NNTR) corridor. Here women, with the support from Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) and training from Centre of Science for Villages (CSV), Wardha, are exploiting mahua in real sense.
“We earned Rs8,500 by selling mahua products at ‘Palash’ exhibition at Gondia recently. We did it on a small-scale and buoyed by it success, we now plan to expand the trade,” said Ushatai Pisde, group leader.
Earlier, same mahua was sold to traders at a throwaway price. Presently, five villages are being trained and 12 will be trained in second phase in the corridor on priority basis, she informed.
Those working to free mahua from the shackles of ‘gulamgiri’ question why, despite repeated delegations and correspondence with the state government, including chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, things are not moving?
Kothari says the government is ignoring the good side of mahua and is more worried about revenue loss it would suffer after freeing mahua from restrictions. He proves his point by revealing, “During the last financial year (2014-15), in Gondia district alone, excise department seized mahua liquor and material worth Rs5.75 crore. The figures from other districts may be mind-boggling.”
Owing to storage restrictions by excise department, mahua is unavailable in huge quantity and hence it is not being put to good use. Only the bad (making brew) side of it is being talked of. “The government needs to popularize mahua for good health to remove the stigma,” feels Kothari.
BOX
MANY USES OF MAHUA
* Mahua fat is used for skin care and to manufacture soap or detergents, and as a vegetable butter. It can also be used as a fuel oil
* Most of the tribals depend on mahua to sustain for 6-7 months in a year. The period between March and May is the peak season for collecting mahua
* Mahua is a fast-growing tree that reaches 20 metres in height. A full grown tree can produce up to 90kg of flowers during the season
* The outer fruit coat is eaten as a vegetable and the fleshy cotyledons are dried and ground into a meal. Mahua seed cakes obtained after extraction of oil constitute very good fertilizer
* The tree is known as Kalpvruksha and is a deity for tribals
* Mahua can help fight malnutrition arising due to chronic energy deficiency in the poor socio-economic community
* The tree is a symbol of Central Indian landscape and indicator of healthy relation of forest with man and wild animals