Lac farming marks its foray into Karnataka

With innumerable problems plaguing farmers every other day, profitable alternatives are always welcome. Ramesh Shankarappa Jigaler is one such farmer, who took the risk of trying something new. An agricultural graduate, he used to cultivate cotton, pulses, banana and areca nut in his farm when he chanced upon a training programme organised by College of Forestry in Sirsi. Scientists from Indian Institute of Natural Resins and Gums (IINRG), Ranchi discussed the possibility of lac cultivation in the State in this programme and looking at the soil composition and weather conditions, deduced that Uttara Kannda district was ideal for lac cultivation.

Around 15 farmers were then educated about the same. Inspired by the efforts put in by Dr. Roopa Patil, programme coordinator, Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Sirsi and Dr. Jaware Gowda, professor of entomology, College of Forestry, Sirsi, Ramesh finally took up lac cultivation.

Lac is secreted by tiny female lac insects to protect their body and the young ones.  First, the host trees are pruned before the right season (July) and when new shoots sprout, broodlac sticks containing the insects are tied to the branches. The insects slowly colonise and produce lac. While harvesting, a little amount is preserved to serve as the broodlac for the next cycle and the rest is scraped off to be sold as sticklac.

The harvested sticklac is crushed, sieved and washed to remove impurities. The resulting product, known as seedlac, is sold in the market at Rs 600 per kg.

India is the leading producer and exporter of lac with Jharkhand being the leader. Lac finds great usage in industries like chemical, perfume, pharmaceutical, electrical and food. It is even manifested in the form of beautiful jewellery and traditional medicines.

The most commonly cultivated species of lac is Kerria lacca. The host trees for lac insects are usually forest species like Kusum(Schleichera oleosa), Palash or Mutugula(Butea monosperma), Ber(Ziziphus mauritiana), Australian Babool(Acacia auriculiformis), Bhalia(Flemingia macrophylla), Flemingia semialata and many other species of ficus.  

To motivate farmers further, Flemingia seedlings are being sold to them.
Research estimates that about 3,500 plants can be planted in one acre plot. But the important thing to remember is not to overdo the cultivation. Many a times, excess broodlac inoculation and high larval settlement on shoots kills the host plants.

Under the guidance of IINRG and Kadamba Charitable Foundation, the  first crop was initiated in February 2013 and since then, farmers have harvested two cycles of crops. In the beginning, Ramesh purchased 6.5 kg of broodlac from Kadamba Charitable Foundation and cultivated it on three kusum trees. He harvested about 90 kg of sticklac and earned a profit of Rs 90,000. Inspired by his success, another small-time farmer, Mahantesh Harijan has also taken up lac cultivation and is looking forward to positive results. Ramesh believes that lac cultivation can be complementary to traditional farming.

Though it is too early to make conclusions, lac cultivation seems to be eco-friendly and doesn’t affect the biodiversity of a region.

Currently, the scientists are conducting research in different agro-climatic regions of Uttara Kannada district and assisting the farmers with natural inoculation, pest management and harvesting procedures.