Just when the poor Adivasis living in the hilly interiors of Telangana’s Adilabad district were to start the collection of sacred mahua flower (Madhuca indica, Madhuca longifolia), the cloudy weather and the rains have become a source of concern. The unusual weather conditions prevailing in the area has the potential to delay the flowering stage in the mahua trees and reduce the yield of the flowers by about a third, as the size and weight of the flowers get restricted.
Having performed the customary puja of the iruk tree, as the mahua is called in Gondi, before the Holi festival, the aboriginal people were looking forward to earning supplementary incomes raised through collection of the mahua flower. They sell a part of their collection of dry mahua flowers, and its seed later in the season, to the Telangana State Girijan Cooperative Corporation (TSGCC) at a minimum support price of Rs 30 and sometimes to private traders at a much lesser price.
The mahua trees, called ippa chettu in Telugu, enter the flowering stage normally during the second half of March and continue till late April, depending upon the area in which the trees are located. Each tree yields about three quintals of flowers and an equal quantity of seed enabling a family to earn between Rs 3,000 and Rs. 6,000 during the season depending upon the quantum of dry flowers sold.
“The Mahua trees require a gently warm atmosphere for flowers to gain in size and eventually shed them in the wee hours. Temperatures between 20 degree Celsius and 25 degree Celsius are conducive,” said Kumram Vittal Rao, manager of Centre for Collective Development-Prajamitra, an NGO facilitating Adivasi women at Utnoor in Adilabad district. The agency helps the women to make laddus with mahua flowers.
Most of the mahua yield comes from Adilabad, Komaram Bheem Asifabad, Mancherial, Nirmal and Kamareddy districts serviced by Utnoor divisional office. For example, nearly Half of the nearly 20,000 quintals of ippa puvvu (mahua flower in Telugu) purchased by TSGCC in 2017-18 had come from the Utnoor division generating a cumulative income of about Rs 4 crore.
Apart from the impact of the abnormal weather, collection of mahua flowers has not been consistent since the last two decades. “Unremunerative price is gradually weaning tribal people away from this activity,” Vittal Rao observed, hinting towards the need for enhancing the Minimum Support Price for the flower this season from the existing Rs 30 per kg. The price has remained stagnant since the last three years.
Enhancement of the MSP for dry mahua flowers has not been discussed so far by the government. “We, however, are offering more than the MSP for some Minor Forest Produces (MFPs) like soap nuts (Rs 40 per kg against the MSP of Rs 14 per kg),” said TSGCC General Manager Seetharam Naik, adding that tribal welfare is the main objective of his organisation.