Makhana Cultivation

About Makhana Cultivation:

• Foxnut, commonly known as Makhana, is an important aquatic crop.
• It is grown in stagnant perennial water bodies like ponds, land depressions, oxbow lakes, swamps and ditches.
• It is a plant of tropical and subtropical climate.
• Makhana plant is considered as native of South-East Asia and China, but distributed to almost every part of the world.
• Required climatic conditions
  • Temperature: 200C to 350 C
  • Relative humidity :50% to 90%
  • Annual rainfall: 100 cm to 250 cm
  • Soil: Smooth loamy soil
• In India it is mainly distributed in the states of Bihar, West Bengal, Manipur, Tripura, Assam, Jammu & Kashmir, Odisha, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh & Uttar Pradesh but commercially produced in few states only.
• Bihar in India is the leading state in its production and processing. It is estimated that Bihar accounts for more than 80 percent of total Makhana production in the country.
• Makhana is a product approved under the Union government’s One District One Product scheme, under which subsidies are provided to food processors for branding, marketing, and developing infrastructure.
• Benefits of Makhana
  • It is a kind of hydrophyte used both as drug and food which exhibits much application and development prospect in the fields of medicine, food and economy.
  • Makhana is the seed of a cash aquatic crop, which was popularly used as herb and food in China. Makhana possessed high nutritional value and many medical and health protection effects.

Q1: What is One District One Product scheme?

 It was launched by the Ministry of Food Processing Industries, to help districts reach their full potential, foster economic and socio-cultural growth, and create employment opportunities, especially, in rural areas. This initiative is carried out with the ‘Districts as Exports Hub’ initiative by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), Department of Commerce.

Source: Makhana cultivation in Bihar | Running on vegetable protein