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Chironji

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Buchania Lanzan, commonly known as Achaar, Char or Chironji, is found in deciduous forests through out greater part of India. It is a medium sized tree, with straight trunk, and has dark grey or black fruit, divided into small rectangular plates.

Availability and Spread

An estimate done in 80s suggests that availability of Chironji is not significant in forests of Chhatisgarh. The state carved 5 % in terms of production and 15% of revenue in Chironji trade in undivided MP. Occurrence of Chironji in CG is concentrated in Sal region comprising of Jagdalpur, Raipur, Kanker, and Sarguja.

As per estimate of state MFP federation, total potential of Chironji in undivided MP is 5000 tonnes per annum that can generate 8 lakh person days of employment.

The trees are found in farmlands as well as commons, scattered widely in forests and hence it takes lot of time and patience to collect significant amount of Chironji to process or sell.

Production and Pricing

Estimate of collection of Chironji and Char guthli by the traders in different regions in 1997 are as follows -

Product	Regions
Product	Betul	Raipur	Dhamtari
Chironji	375	100	20
Char Guthli	-	-	100

RCDC study in Sarguja in 2002 suggests that trade volume of char in Ambikapur is around 500 Qtl a year of which 50 Qtl goes to Raipur and Dhamtari. The agents who process are ready to take any amount of chironji. However following trend in Mandis of Bastar indicates unpredictability of production in a particular area. This has obvious repercussions in pricing and trade practices.

Figure : Trade of Chironji in Mandis of Bastar Division (in MT)

Price Spread in different regions as shown below indicates the differences as the produce moves from Jagdalpur to Raipur. The figures also show how prices between guthli and chironji can vary by 10 to 20 times.

Raipur	Chironji-	Grade I	200
		Grade II	175
		Grade III	160
	Guthli		6.5 to 20
Dhamtari	Chironji-	Grade I	170
		Grade II	150
Jagdalpur	Chironji		100 to 150

Trade Aspects

In Sarguja, Chironji is hardly sold in the market. Primary collectors exchange unprocessed char seeds in local market against rice. One kg of unprocessed char seed costs 2 kg of rice or Rs 15 - 20 and processed char costs Rs 150-160 that is also exchanged with rice. 1 Kg of unprocessed char seed can produce 200-250 gm of chironji. As processing of chironji is time consuming and results in lots of wastage, primary collectors don’t want to sell it processed form. A person if engaged fully in collection of char can collect a maximum of 20 kg per day.

Char is transported to Delhi, Banaras and Kanpur by train through Bishrampur railway station in Sarguja. An approximate 50 MT of char has been transported to different parts of the state this year. Depending on quality of char rate varies from Rs 20 - 40 per kg. The rate of chironji that is being processed in Ambikapur varies from Rs 150-200 per kg.

Figure: Trade Channel of Chironji in Sarguja

Mahendra Jaiswal owns Ganesh Trading Company, a char-processing unit. According to him, he founded the machine towards first half of 80s. His factory situated 10 kms from Ambikapur runs throughout the year. The company buys Char from nearby areas and also from Raipur and Dhamtari. Before commencement of the season, company personnel go to villages and provide advances to petty traders who procure the produce. Char processing essentially is decortications - to break the hard outer cover of seed and recover the Kernel. The Kernel is used primarily in sweets, Kheer and Ice creams. The decorticator is a power driven “Chaki” and a sieve with mechanical vibrator “Chalni”. In the decorticator seeds’ outer cover is broken and the two emerge together and are then separated on the chalni. Finally some manual cleaning and picking takes place. According to Pawan Gupta, marketing executive, adjustment of stone crushers is most important. Otherwise, all operations are same as of a flourmill. They are in this business for more than 20 years. They send their finished products to Northern India and Gujarat.

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