Sal seeds will bring prosperity to Uttarakhand, a new chapter in Forest Produce

Why in News?

On June 25, 2023, Manoj Chandran, Chief Conservator of Forests, Uttarakhand Forest Department, said that for the first time in the state, work is being done on a plan to collect and sell Sal seeds in the market as a pilot project. In this way, a new chapter of forest produce has been added in the forest-dominated state of Uttarakhand.

Key Points:

  • Sal forests spread over an area of about 5,000 square kilometres in the state will become a new source of income for the villagers and the forest department. The Dhami government's emphasis in the state is on increasing income from forests.
  • For this, apart from eco-tourism, instructions have been given to the officers on behalf of Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on how prosperity can be brought from different types of produce obtained from forests. In this series, the Forest Department has started work for the first time on this scheme to generate income from the seeds of the year.
  • According to an estimate, about 45 lakh quintals of Sal seeds are produced in Uttarakhand. Although all the seeds will not be collected in this scheme, for this the seeds fallen on the fire line and roadside will be collected. Accordingly, lakhs of quintals of seeds will be collected.
  • Sal seeds have been used for thousands of years in Ayurvedic medicine to treat gallstones, leucorrhoea, gonorrhoea, skin diseases, stomach disorders, ulcers, wounds, diarrhoea and weakness. Apart from this, sal seeds are also used in making chocolate.
  • Valuable edible oil is extracted from sal seeds. The seed contains 19.20% oil. The oil is also used as a substitute for butter and in confectionery & foods. The remaining oilseed contains 10.12% protein. It is used as feed for poultry.
  • Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Jharkhand are such states in the country, where sal seeds are collected on a large scale through small forest produce cooperative societies as major forest produce. The Minimum Support Price (MSP) of Sal seeds is also released every year in these states.