Some years in the past, Joginder Mukhiya, 45, took a dip in a pond, however by no means got here again up. A number of hours later, his fellow staff discovered his physique. “Makhana nikalne paani ke andar gaye the, andar hello reh gaye… (He went inside to choose makhana seeds; by no means got here up),” remembers Joginder’s neighbour Sharwan Mukhiya, 29, a makhana farmer from Mahisi village of Bihar’s Saharsa district.
In Bihar, a state that accounts for 85 per cent of the nation’s makhana manufacturing, farming practices for the crop have seen few developments, typically tied to laborious conventional practices which can be fraught with dangers and poor pay. But, for the generations of mallahs (a group of fishermen) within the state’s riverine belts of Kosi and Mithanchal, it’s the one livelihood they’ve identified. The makhana’s latest superfood standing because the prized ‘fox nuts’ and the sudden political consideration in an election 12 months have largely bypassed them.
It’s this that Sharwan and different makhana farmers hope will change as soon as the Makhana Board and the meals processing institute introduced within the Union Finances get off the bottom.
“The federal government ought to repair a fee for labour at each stage of makhana cultivation — from sowing, to transplanting, harvesting to packaging. It can stop exploitation. The federal government must also create native markets the place farmers can promote their very own merchandise with out counting on middlemen,” says Sharwan, who additionally runs a Farmer Producer Group (FPO) underneath the title of the Kosi Kamla Makhana Farmers Producer Organisation.
In line with the most recent Bihar Financial Survey, in 2023-24, makhana manufacturing within the state stood at 56.4 thousand tonnes and lined 27.8 thousand hectares. Within the absence of environment friendly advertising chains, meals processing models and an export infrastructure in Bihar, it’s from states akin to Punjab and Assam that makhana is exported to overseas markets.
With the federal government figuring out makhana as a crop with the “potential to turn out to be a serious export product”, the main focus has shifted to the mallahs, an Extraordinarily Backward Class group that has a near-exclusive maintain over makhana farming within the state.
“Humlog machwara hain, janm se hello paani se jude hain… (We’re fishermen, we’re linked to the river from the time we’re born). With out us, makhana can neither be sown nor harvested,” says Sharwan.
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The makhana ‘divers’
In Saharsa, the place the Kosi and its tributaries type a community of water our bodies, makhana fields stretch out so far as the attention can see – their lotus-like leaves floating in low-land ponds.
It’s from these marshy fields that the makhana begins its journey to markets, each inside and out of doors the state.
Whereas makhana was historically grown in ponds, it’s now principally cultivated in fields, with the crop season lasting from January (when the sowing occurs) to July-September (harvesting).
The seeds for planting come from the earlier 12 months’s harvest or from the federal government’s Krishi Vigyan Kendras, from the place farmers should buy seeds at a subsidised fee of Rs 180 a kg. Nevertheless, Sharwan factors out, the subsidies typically go to the landlords and never the “actual farmers”.
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“Most farmers right here don’t personal the land they domesticate,” says Sharwan. “They lease it from landlords, paying wherever from between Rs 20,000 and 30,000 per hectare annually,” he says, including that many farmers take loans simply to keep up their fields.”
Sharwan doesn’t personal the 70 acres on which he grows makhana. But, he has now grown right into a middle-level farmer, using others from his neighbourhood to work with him on the sector.
Within the early days of the season, farmers sow the seeds in smaller nurseries which have a number of inches of standing water. Because the months progress, the water stage rises, permitting the crops to develop.
After about 2-3 weeks, the crops are transplanted into a much bigger area, a course of that wants cautious planning. “Earlier than planting, the sector have to be cleaned. Leftover stays from the final harvest result in aquatic weed progress,” Sharwan explains.
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The cleansing and transplantation course of requires 20-25 staff per acre over the course of per week, costing the farmer roughly Rs 45,000.
As soon as the seedlings are transplanted, the fields require common upkeep to regulate aquatic weeds. “That prices us one other Rs 8,000-12,000 per acre. Pesticide spraying prices one other Rs 1,500 per acre, together with for the labour. This time, we referred to as a drone operator from UP to spray pesticides. He did the job in simply half an hour. The price of the liquid urea was solely Rs 300, and the drone charged Rs 250 for a flight.”
The true problem begins when the makhana crops mature. The fruit, which appears to be like like a pink pear, grows beneath the floor of the water, underneath the leaves.
“The crops and fruits attain their full measurement simply earlier than the monsoons. When the rain beats down on the leaves and the ripened fruits, they burst open and launch black makhana seeds, which cool down on the waterbed,” Sharwan says.
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The seeds should be manually picked from the mattress of the water physique – a course of makhana farmer Subodh Mukhiya, 35, calls “dangerous”, particularly because the waters of the Kosi would have flooded the plains and the makhana fields.
“The water within the fields can rise as much as 6 ft or extra throughout the rains,” Subodh says. Whereas the seeds are on the backside of the sector, the decaying leaves, stem and fruits of the makhana, which float within the water, are lined with nice thorns that may pierce the pores and skin.
Rajiv Mukhiya, one other farmer, provides, “Aside from the thorns, there’s at all times a threat of coming into contact with glass or metallic items and varied waterborne creatures, together with snakes. The water is so murky, you may’t see something.”
To retrieve the makhana seeds, Subodh explains, they dive bare-bodied, their naked palms scraping the water mattress. “We maintain our breath, dive in and gather the seeds. We’ve got cuts and bruises throughout after a day’s work… our ears and nostrils get crammed with mud,” he says.
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Farmers and fishermen like Subodh and Rajiv do a number of such rounds to assemble all of the uncooked makhana or the ghuri from the waterbed. “It’s dangerous, however nobody else can do it,” Rajiv says.
It takes a crew of round 5 folks 10-15 days to assemble round 5 quintals (500 kg) of makhana seeds from a 1-acre area. At this stage, the makhana is small, spherical and black, very like a small-sized betel nut. “Regardless of the extraordinary bodily toll, farmers are paid simply round Rs 30-50 per kilogram of makhana they gather,” Sharwan says, including that middlemen management every stage of the market.
After drying within the solar, the makhana seeds are prepared for roasting. The method, normally finished after the monsoon months, requires precision – overheating damages the ultimate product – and is completed by staff who’re referred to as in from Darbhanga.
Yearly since 2012, Ganga Sahni, 34, has been coming to Saharsa from Darbhanga to assist with the roasting. “I come right here in August or September with my complete household. For every quintal of uncooked makhana I roast, I get Rs 5,000,” says Sahni.
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The black roasted seed is then cracked with a wood hammer to launch the white popcorn-like makhana from their shells.
For each 100 kg of uncooked makhana that’s dried, roasted, and cracked, about 60 kg of makhana is produced – a course of that takes round 15 hours. Of that, solely about 40 kg is taken into account high-quality. “The very best quality sells for Rs 1,400 rupees per kg for the very best selection. The others promote for Rs 800-1,300 a kg,” Sharwan says.
From the fields to the market
At each stage of the makhana’s worth chain, its worth goes up and by the point it reaches the market, it’s offered for wherever between Rs 1,200 to 2,000 a kilogram, relying on its high quality.
“Many farmers can’t afford to get labourers to roast the makhana, so that they promote the uncooked seeds for as little as Rs 300 rupees a kg,” Sharwan says, in between shouting out directions to staff who’re loading packed makhana onto a truck that shall be despatched to markets in Darbhanga.
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As soon as processed, makhana businessmen from throughout the nation come to Darbhanga and different markets within the state to examine the pattern and purchase the product, typically paying 60 per cent of the agreed worth as advance.
“Final season, I purchased popped makhana for Rs 1,050 per kilogram,” says Balkrishn Mishra, a Mumbai-based businessman, “Nevertheless, costs fluctuate considerably based mostly on provide and demand.”
As soon as the makhana reaches his godown in Mumbai, says Mishra, it undergoes high quality management to take away broken or undesirable supplies. “The method takes a day and prices round Rs 500 per quintal,” Mishra says.
The packing course of provides one other layer of expense, with prices starting from Rs 6-8 per packet, together with the labour price and a further “Rs 8-10 if we add masala”.
He lastly sells the product to his clients for Rs 1,150-2,000 a kg, typically extra, relying on the provision of makhana and the market demand.
Sharwan factors out that a lot of the makhana farmers come from poor backgrounds, with restricted monetary safety. “If the crops fail, we’ve to promote no matter we’ve to pay again the lenders. Our youngsters don’t have any selection however to affix us within the fields at an early age. They miss out on training and find yourself main lives identical to ours,” he says.
