Farmers in Bundelkhand usually prefer to grow wheat (41.97 per cent) as it ensures food security. Mentha (36.28 per cent) and sugarcane (31.39 per cent) are the other preferred crops. In practice, however, farmers who cultivate mentha do not cultivate any other crop due to lack of finances and other resources. Mentha cultivation has only ended up affecting their food security.

Moreover, if mentha is cultivated on dry land, water requirement increases in accordance with the water content of the land. The study data suggests that the irrigation cost incurred by a farmer in mentha cultivation is Rs 8,856 per acre for two cuttings and Rs 10,824 per acre for three cuttings. “It is important to note here that these cost data reflect only the expenditure on diesel and rent for pumping set and does not include the water price. One can easily presume what cost Bundelkhand is paying for mentha cultivation!” wondered Sinha.

An Indian menthol or mint grower can expect to make about US$1,000 per hectare per year, rising to US$2,400 when a good crop rotation is followed owing to the less time it takes for the crop to mature.

The data in the study has, however, underlined that Bundelkhand farmers are merely getting 30 to 35 litres of mint oil per acre due to high cost involved in its cultivation, which is coupled with falling market price of mint oil due to excess production.

India’s ‘mint belt’ lies in the country’s breadbasket — a strip of plains and foothills about 1,500 km long and 250 km wide, just south of the Himalayan range, spanning the states of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, UP and Bihar. Of these, UP’s contribution is maximum, almost 75 per cent of the total output.

... contd.