जलीय फसल मखाना की निर्यात क्षमता, पोषण महत्‍व और वाणिज्यिक खेती

Makhana (Euryale ferox Salisb.), Family Nymphaeaceae, is an important non-cereal aquatic crop cultivated in stagnant perennial water bodies like ponds, land depressions, oxbow lakes, swamps and ditches.

Makhana is also commonly known as Fox nut and Gorgon nut, the propped seeds of makhana is eaten and also used in preparation of various kind of sweets and recipes.

Makhana plant is distributed to almost every parts of the world and considered as a native of South-East Asia and China. In general, its distribution is mainly limited to tropical and sub-tropical regions of South-East Asia and also known to exist in Japan, Korea, Russia, North America, Nepal, Bangladesh and some parts of India.

In India, Makhana is distributed in Bihar, Eastern Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh. West Bengal, Manipur, Tripura, Assam, Jammu & Kashmir, and Rajasthan. However, its commercial cultivation is limited to mainly North Bihar, Manipur, parts of West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh.

The Bihar state alone accounts more than 85% of the makhana production of the country. In Bihar, Darbangha, Madhubani, Purnia, and Katihar districts alone contribute approximately 80% of the total production of processed makhana.  

There is a huge export potential of this crop as propped seed of makhana is highly nutritious and have medicinal properties. The average productivity of makhana is about 1.8-2.0 t/ha of pond area.

Makhana Export:

Foxnuts are highly popular in countries of Asia Pacific Countries such as India, China, Japan, and Thailand. However, in western countries the foxnuts market is still untapped. With rising consumer awareness about the numerous health benefits of foxnuts, its demand is expected to increase rapidly in western countries.

India’s exports of fox nuts grew at 11.2% annually from 2013 to 2017. In financial year 2017-18, India exported USD 21.2 million worth of fox nuts to the world. It is expected that the global foxnuts market size will grow by USD 72.5 million during 2019-2023 (Centre for Advance Trade Research, February 18, 2019).

The large number of untapped foxnuts markets will also encourage new players to enter the market. This, in turn, will drive the growth of the foxnuts market at a CAGR of almost 7% during the forecast period of 2019-2023.

Central and state governments are involved in formulation of export promotion strategy and export awareness programs for makhana.

Nutritional Value and Health Benefits:

The several health benefits and medicinal properties of makhana are boosting market growth and its popularity among consumers who prefer healthy and natural food products.  

The nutrient composition analysis has proven that foxnuts are gluten-free, low in saturated fat, sodium, cholesterol, glycemic index and rich in fiber, protein, carbohydrates, calcium, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, and antioxidants.

These factors make it an healthy food product especially for people suffering from diabetes, high blood pressure, chronic inflammation, constipation and body stress.

It contains 9.7% easily digestible protein, 76% carbohydrate, 12.8% moisture, 0.1% fat, 0.5% total minerals, 0.9% phosphorus and 1.4% iron / 100g. It is digestive for all age groups.

It contains antioxidants such as flavonoids which protect the body from adverse effects of free radicals. Calorific value of raw and popped seeds of makhana are 362 kcal and 328 kcal/100 gm, respectively.

Makhana is also considered superior to several dry fruits in terms of sugar, protein, and ascorbic acid and phenol contents. The medicinal properties of foxnuts are also well well-known.

Medicinal uses:

In Indian and Chinese ancient literature the medicinal properties of makhana are well documented. According to these literatures, all the plant parts have tonic, astringent and de-obstruent properties.

The seed is analgesic and aphrodisiac. It is taken internally in the treatment of chronic diarrhoea, vaginal discharge, impotence, premature and involuntary ejaculation, nocturnal emissions and kidney weakness associated with frequent urination.

The Makhana seeds are used in the formulation  of a number of Ayurvedic medicines. It is also reported that the makhana used in alleviation of vat and pitta dosha. It is one of the  important herbal preparation, used for erectile dysfunction (impotence).

 In China, its seeds are used in traditional medicine to retard aging  and strengthen the male potency. Das et al. (2006) demonstrated that Makhana has the cardioprotective properties.

He suggested that these properties may be linked with the ability of Makhana to induce TRB-32 and Trx-1 proteins and to scavenge ROS.

The leaves are also effective against rheumatism this may be attributed due to the presence of an alkaloid "drummine" .

Cultivation of Makhana:

Makhana cultivation technology has been standardized both for perennial water bodies having water depth of 4-6 ft and also for field system.

Tropical and subtropical climatic condition, air temperature is 20 to 35⁰C, relative humidity 50%-90% and annual rainfall of 100-250 cm, organically rich water bodies with less than 50% water transparency are suitable for growth, development and cultivation of makhana crop.

A water body where 1-1.5m water depth is maintained throughout the year is an ideal site for makhana cultivation.

Swarn Vaidehi, variety of Makhana, developed by ICAR, has a yield potential of 2.8-3.0 t/ha compared to 1.8 t/ha yield of traditional cultivars.

In old pond or water bodies new plants come out from the seeds which have been left last year in the bottom of water bodies.

Makhana cultivation in new water bodies (ponds) requires seed sowing as it is propagated through seed and recommended seed rate is 80-90kg/ha, broadcasted in the month of December.

Thinning operation is also required to maintain optimum plant density and spacing between plant to plant.

During April-June the entire water surface get covered with large orbicular floating leaves. Soon after flowering season begins and simultaneously fruits are set. During month of July- August when the ripen fruits burst, seeds float in the water surface but remain adhered under the leaves and then finally settle in the bottom of pond within a day or two.

The collection of seed starts from the month of August onward by skilled professionals. Ripen seeds settled down in the bottom of the pond are collected manually through brooming.

 In general, the post harvest processing involves sun drying, size grading, pr-heating & tempering, roasting & popping, polishing and grading. The entire system of makhana processing is manual, recently few makhana popping machine developed by ICAR.

Seeds are dried in open sun for a week for removal of extra moisture of fresh seeds is the first step of makhana processing and then fried in earthen pans over furnace by skilled people. Then seeds are beaten with wooden hammer for obtaining popped makhana ‘lava’. The recovery rate of popp is approximately 40-42% of the seeds.

Unpopped seeds are discarded manually. The pops are swollen and white in colour having reddish spots depending on quality. Selection and packaging is done in gunny bags for storage under ordinary storage conditions for long periods.

Net profit form makhana cultivation can be enhanced by adopting the integrated framing with water chestnut and fish in the same piece of land as compared to solo cultivation of makhana.

The net return (in Rs/ha) of  Rs 57960.0 (only fox nut cultivation), Rs. 102635.0 (Fox nut + Fish), and Rs. 126505.0 (Fox nut + Fish + water chestnut) recorded under different combination in pond system.

The cultivation practices of makhana in agriculture fields consisting 1-2 ft. depth of water, has also been reported. This system is very easy to operate and provides opportunities to cultivate cereals and fodder crops in the same piece of land in same year. It raises the crop intensity by 200-300%.

Field mode of fox nut cultivation is more profitable. In field system Makhana seedlings are first raised as a nursery and then transplanted in the main filed at the optimum time.

Depending upon the availability of field and nursery, the transplanting can be done in between first week of February to the third week of April. Through this system, the duration of Makhana crop is can reduced up to the four months.  

The air-breathing fishes like Singhi, Magur, Kawai etc. are suitable for makhana growing water bodies, which derive their nutrition from the heavy organic detritus in the pond bottom.

References

Gupta, V.K., Kumar, L., Singh, I.S. and Thakur, A.K., Fox nut cultivation in Bihar.

Kumar L., Gupta V.K., Jha B.K.,

Authors:

Dr. Shailesh Kumar¹, Dr. A. K. Singh² & Dr. Sweta Mishra³

¹Assistant Professor, CBS&H, Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa, Bihar

²Professor, CBS&H, Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa, Bihar

³Associate Professor, COB, SVPUA&T, Meerut

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