From Northern Bihar districts to capturing the domestic and global attention “Makhana” or Euryale ferox, commonly known as prickly waterlily, has indeed come a long way. Known as a popular snack when fasting, makhana despite its prized nutritional value — high in B vitamins, protein and fibre — still went unrecognised and is lost amidst other nuts.

Makhana consumption increases during various festivals such as Navratri, Kojagara, Eid and wedding season, since it is used for various religious rituals and consumed by devotees during their fast as non-cereal food. It gained more prominence during Covid times when doctors globally also started recognising its human immunity value, said Indu Shekhar Singh, In-charge Head & Principal Scientist, ICAR-National Research Centre for Makhana, Darbhanga.

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It is largely consumed in the form of fried snacks, vegetable curry, sweet porridge etc and it is recommended for treatments for respiratory, circulatory, digestive, excretory and reproductive systems. Now its demand has increased and all efforts are being made to increase its overall production and productivity, he said.

Special opportunity

The efforts of those involved in makhana promotion has paid off to some extent with it finding a mention in the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s Budget speech. Sitharaman said, “A comprehensive programme to promote production, efficient supplies, processing and remunerative prices for farmers will be launched in partnership with States. Appropriate institutional mechanisms for implementation and participation of farmer producer organisations and cooperatives will be set up.” 

“For this, there is a special opportunity for the people of Bihar. A Makhana Board will be established in the State to improve production, processing, value-addition and marketing of makhana. The people engaged in these activities will be organised into FPOs. The Board will provide handholding and training support to makhana farmers and will also work to ensure they receive the benefits of all relevant government schemes,” she said.

According to CEO of Shakti Sudha, Satyajit Singh, who is also involved with white ball revolution that started in 2003, “to understand what has changed now, you have to go back in time, 20 years almost, when it all started. The corner of the State from where 99 per cent of the production comes, that time it was only in thousands.”

Lack of HSN code

Singh points out that, unless the production side is not addressed nothing will work. “Only when production is appropriate, the marketing and sale side of it will be handled,” he added. 

Though makhana has caught global attention and is being exported, it is difficult to get the exact number as it does not have its own HSN code, Indu Shekhar said adding that expectations are that it will get one this year.

In 2022, makhana got its GI tagging under the name of ‘Mithila Makhana’. Besides, both the Central and State governments have come forward to provide financial incentives to makhana growers to step up its production and take up start-ups in the field of cultivation and processing.

In fact, recent years have witnessed its production expanding to non-traditional areas of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal. According to Indu Shekhar, its wild population are found in the Himalayan lakes from Kashmir in the North-West to Manipur in the North-East.

Farmers income double

While there are infrastructural issues to be addressed, equally important is the remuneration a farmer gets. The State government is incentivising them to some extent. A farmer who used to get around ₹200 for a kg (in 2017), today gets around ₹500 a kg. Makhana growing farmers are raising their voice for minimum support price, Indu Shekhar said.

Now with the proposed Board, there will be a structure in place. The price, which is ad hoc till now, will be matter managed. And also there will be a sense of assurance for the farmers as there will be a system in place and makhana too will be recognised as a proper ‘nut’ as it is also popularly known as Gorgon Nut.

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