Uttar Pradesh Government’s idea to introduce mentha (mint) -one of the most popular cash crops among farmers these days — in parched Bundelkhand has come a cropper. The crop’s cultivation is proving not only costly for the farmers but is also causing further water crisis in the area.

A recent study carried out by Lucknow-based Centre for Contemporary Studies and Research (CCSR), in association with Orai-based (Bundelkhand) Parmarth Samaj Sevi Sangthan, has thrown several startling facts about the cultivation of mentha.

The study was conducted in February — the month when Bundelkhand farmers sow mentha. Though it is not the ideal time for sowing the crop, the local farming practice does not allow them to take it up earlier.

Samples of mentha were collected from as many as 100 households of 20 villages in five development blocks of Jalaun district, said Utkarsh K Sinha of CCSR.

The study revealed that for a large number of farming households (66.4 per cent), the average annual income is less than Rs 1.5 lakh. Only 3.6 per cent families have average annual income of more than Rs 3 lakh. While almost all the families are cultivating mentha for the past five years, the study shows it has not translated into high income for them.

All these farmers are cultivating mentha as their principal crop, besides producing other crops like wheat, coarse grains, sugarcane and others. The study also confirms that those farmers, who are cultivating mentha, do not practice mixed farming.

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