The ‘superfood’ taking up fields in northern India

Like his father and grandfather earlier than him, Phool dev Shahni as soon as made a residing by diving to the underside of 8ft-deep (2.4m), muddy ponds.

“I used to dive in 7 to 8ft of water for hours a day – coming to the floor to breathe after 8 to 10 minutes,” explains Mr Shahni.

Whereas down in these murky depths he was harvesting the seeds of a sort of water lily referred to as euryale ferox.

Often called makhanas, fox nuts or lotus seeds, they’re prized for his or her dietary worth, being excessive in B nutritional vitamins, protein and fibre, with some touting them as a superfood.

Usually eaten as a snack, makhanas are additionally utilized in numerous dishes, together with the milk pudding kheer, in addition to being floor into flour.

Within the north-eastern Indian state of Bihar, the place Mr Shahni lives, 90% of the world’s makhana is grown.

The leaves of the lily plant are massive and round and sit on the highest of the pond. However the seeds type in pods beneath water and accumulating them was an exhausting course of.

“Whereas we’re on the backside diving, mud enters our ears, eyes, nostril and mouth. Plenty of us have pores and skin points because of this. Additionally the plant is roofed in thorns, which give us cuts throughout our physique throughout harvesting of the seeds,” Mr Shahni says.

However lately farmers have modified the cultivation course of. The crops are actually usually grown in fields, in a lot shallower water.

Harvesting seeds in only a foot of water means Mr Shahni could make twice as a lot cash in a day.

“It is nonetheless onerous work however I’m happy with my custom. I’ve three youngsters and I’ll ensure that one in all my sons continues the legacy of working in a fox nut discipline.”

Dr Manoj Kumar, is a kind of behind the change in makhana cultivation.

About ten years in the past he realised it could be troublesome to increase its cultivation in deep ponds.

Now Senior Scientist on the Nationwide Analysis Centre for Makhana (NRCM), he helped to develop the cultivation of lilies in fields of shallow water.

During the last 4 or 5 years that method has been taking off.

“With our improvements, rising fox nuts is now as straightforward as any crop grown on land. The one quantity of water wanted is a foot. The employees don’t should work for hours in deep water,” he explains.

And after experiments with totally different seeds, his centre discovered a extra resilient and productive selection, which he says has tripled the revenue of farmers.

Dr Kumar says that makhana cultivation has helped some farmers address extra unsure climate situations and floods which have hit Bihar lately.

Now NRCM is engaged on machines that may harvest the seeds.

All that innovation has attracted increasingly farmers.

In 2022, the world used for fox nut farming was 35,224 hectares (87,000 acres), an nearly threefold enhance over 10 years.

Dhirendra Kumar is one farmer who has made a current change to makhana cultivation.

Though he grew up on a farm, he did not wish to observe in his father’s footsteps.

“As farmers we at all times grew wheat, lentils and mustard however ended up shedding some huge cash.

“More often than not floods destroyed the crops,” he says.

Whereas finding out for a PhD, he got here into contact with a scientist engaged on makhana cultivation and determined to experiment with the crop on his household farm.

“The outcomes had been wonderful. Within the first yr I made a revenue of £340 [US$432],” he says.

Now he grows lilies on 17 acres (6.9 hectares) of land.

“In my wildest goals I didn’t assume that I’d get into rising fox nuts, because it was a labour-intensive job, which was largely carried out by fishermen.”

The change in crop has additionally opened up job alternatives for ladies. Mr Kumar now employs about 200 native girls who sow the seeds.

“My purpose is to offer jobs to as many farmers as potential so that they don’t go away farming due to uncertainty in agriculture,” he says.

It isn’t simply within the discipline that improvements have been made.

In addition to being one of many main cultivators of makhana, Madhubani Makhana, processes it for export everywhere in the world.

Historically, as soon as the makhanas have been harvested, they’re washed, roasted after which hit with a mallet-like device to make them pop.

“The strategy is crude, unhygienic and dangerous. It’s laborious, time-consuming and a lot of instances results in accidents and burns,” says Shambhu Prasad, the founder and chief government of Madhubani Makhana.

In partnership with the NRCM, his firm has developed a machine which roasts and pops the fox seeds.

“This has helped us enhance the standard and the manufacturing of fox nuts,” says Mr Prasad.

Three of the machines have been included into his manufacturing plant in Madhubani, within the north of Bihar.

Whereas innovation within the farming and processing of makhana is rising manufacturing, Mr Prasad doesn’t assume that will probably be sufficient to see costs fall.

“Given the rising world demand for makhana, vital will increase in manufacturing will probably be needed to attain any substantial discount in costs,” he says.

Again on his farm, Dhirendra Kumar thinks that makhana cultivation will deliver far-reaching change.

“It’s the start of innovation in Bihar in relation to fox nut harvesting. It should change the panorama of the state,” he says.