Exploring the potentials of mahua-seed oil

Samarthak Samiti Udaipur has been working with adivasi people dependent on NTFPs for about 10 years. The Samiti’s aim is work for the rights of such people, especially in getting the wages for their work and the price of their produce as they depend mostly on these NTFPs. Along with the development of forests the livelihood options and improvement of resources have also been worked on, and some success has been achieved. The Samiti is working on various NTFP-based ventures, the training about them, their value-addition and regeneration.

In southern Rajasthan the Samiti is working with poor adivasi families in an effort to improve their livelihood options and social conditions. Over the past 20 years the Samiti has worked on the economic development as well as several other fields in this region. Some of them are: agriculture, education, hygiene, cattle rearing, children’s rights, environmental protection, women’s self-help groups, and the collection of NTFPs. With the support from TRIFED the Samiti also introduced the scientific collection, storage and value addition of mahua, as well as the appropriate technology for such occupations that improve livelihood strategies.

The harvest, drying and storage technique:

Oil is extracted from mahua seeds and that is used in cooking, to light lamps, in soap-making and in candles. This makes mahua seeds very important in the lives of rural people. Each seed has two kernels. The fallen seeds as well as the seeds that fall from shaking the tree are collected by hand; this seed collection takes between 2-3 weeks to complete. The outer covering is removed by hand or the seeds are immersed in water for 5-6 hours and then worked with stone to separate the covering. From a single tree one obtains between 20-40 kilograms of kernel.

Nowadays there are modern techniques for the removal of the shell, like the de-corticator. The inner kernel is about 70 % of the weight of the seed; these are dried and then pressed to extract the oil. Traditionally, oil presseing wheels were used for extraction in which 35% of the oil-weight remained in the seeds.

In some of the central Indian states there are local devices made of wood for oil extraction, though such techniques are hard to come by nowadays. Modern oil extractors use diesel or electricity to run the machines This saves time and about 50% oil is extracted from the seeds; the oil is sold at Rs 40-50 per litre in the market. The amount of oil extracted depends on the techniques used in extracting the oil. The oil from mahua seeds is known as “butter” and the remaining seed-waste is mixed with similar waste from peanut and soya-bean seeds is used as cattle feed. Mahua seed-waste alone is also used as a vermicide, and also as a fertilizer in felds. The seed waste is sold at Rs 450 a quintal.