Lac, a resinous secretion of a microscopic
tiny insect known as Laccifer Lacca, is a non-toxic and non-
polluting alternative to synthetic resin. The produce is in
fact the parent of modern plastic. Lac is one of the forest
produces that finds mention in the ancient texts of the country,
most notably in Mahabharata, where the Kauravas conspire to
kill the Pandavas in beautifully built house made of the produce.
Trade with Europe goes as far as to the early 19th century
when it was exported for dyeing wood. It is believed that
the worth of Lac exported in 1825 was Rs. 7 Lakhs.
While its use in wood dyeing declined and
has almost stopped, other uses of Lac gained momentum. It
is used as protective coating material, insulations, adhesives,
sealing wax, handicrafts, in paints and varnishes etc. The
invention of Gramophone records that were made of Lac led
to great demand and the export from India touched Rs. 23.4
million amounting to 42,840 MT.
India and Thailand are the main countries
where lac is cultivated. Till the middle of the last century,
India virtually had the monopoly in lac production. But a
number of other countries, notably Thailand, increased their
production while production took a nosedive in India. The
reasons given are - poor competitive power due to crude method
of harvesting and declining demand in the market as substitutes
were discovered. However, it is believed that lac is back
in demand due to use in some sophisticated gadgets - including
computer chips.
The principal lac hosts in the country are
Palas, Ber and Kusum. Lac is categorised into two types -
Kusumi and Rangini based on the host trees. For Kusumi, Kusum
(Schleichera Oleosa) is the host tree and for Rangini - Palas
(Butea Monosperma) and Kul (Ziziphus Mauritinia) are the host
trees. There are two different sowing seasons for each variety
of Lac.
Over 90% of Indian lac comes from the states
of Jharkhand, Chhatisgarh, West Bengal, Maharastra and Orissa.
Purulia and Bankura districts of WB are one of the primary
lac growing areas in the country. The cultivators of Lac in
the state predominantly follow traditional practices for its
cultivation and are not aware of recent scientific methods
that affect production and profitability. Climatic condition
is one of the restraining factors for production, and farmers
being not conversant with extension activities face losses.
The heavy initial investment required and the high perishability
of the raw product (for which farmers are forced to resort
to distress sale) also discourages lac cultivation.
The cultivation of lac is however not very
difficult. The host trees are pruned in before the sowing
season and when the new shoots come out, 2 or 3 sticks of
broodlac containing living insects are tied on to branches
near them. The larvae swarm out, settle on the shots and go
on producing the resin. After the infection of the trees with
brood lac, the crop needs little or no attention till the
time of harvesting. The crop is cut, and after keeping a portion
apart to serve as brood lac for the next crop, the rest is
scrapped off from the twigs and sold in the market as sticklac.
Freshly scraped sticklac contain plenty of moisture and is
usually left in the shade to dry. The cultivators, mostly
tribals dependent on the forest, then sell stick lac in village
markets to the manufacturers or their agents.
The Rangini strain produces the main crop,
Baisakhi that comes to the market in April - May. The corresponding
Katki crop comes in October - November and is mostly used
as brood lac for the next Baisakhi. The Kusumi strain also
yields two crops - Aghani and Jethwi - the latter serving
as brood lac for the former which is the major Kusumi crop.
The quality and consequently the value of
stick lac depend on a variety of factors, namely, the brood
lac and the host tree, the climatic conditions and the season
of harvesting, - whether the crop is harvested before larval
emergence or after and also how it has been dried and stored.
Stick lac is converted to commercial grades
of seed lac and shellac. The yield of refined lac from stick
lac varies between 40-60% depending on the host tree, and
area of cultivation etc. Apart from lac resin, stick lac contains
6-7% of lac wax, 3-5 % of moisture, lac dye or colouring matter,
and impurities like insect debris, wood species, sand etc.
The refinement of stick lac into seed lac, the semi processed
material is mostly carried out in cottage scale or semi-mechanised
factories in the lac - growing areas. Seed lac is then converted
to shellac of various grades, either by hand made process
in the cottage industries or machine made process in mechanised
industries.
Stick lac is first crushed and sieved to
remove sand and dust. It is then washed in large vats again
and again and at the same time rubbing the lac against the
sides of the vat to break open the insect bodies and dissolving
the colouring matter in water. The lighter impurities float
on the surface and form a scum which can be easily removed.
The coloured water containing lac dye is drained out. The
washing is repeated until the dye and most of the impurities
are removed. The lac thus cleaned is spread on large, clean,
open air floor to dry. After drying, it is winnowed and sieved
to get the commercial variety of seed lac. The dusty lac which
is eliminated by sieving is known as Molamma lac and falls
under the category of Refuse lac that contains 55-80% lac.
The seed lac is then processed to shellac, either manually
or through machines.
Trading
Stick lac is cultivated in the forest belts
and hilly regions of the lac growing states in India. The
cultivators bring produces ranging from a few kilograms to
few quintals and sell it to the agents and/ or manufacturers.
The agents later pass on the stick lac to manufacturers or
exporters. Some manufacturers produce semi processed material,
seed lac that is again sold to the manufacturers of shellac
or to the exporters of seed lac. Many of the manufacturers
are exporters themselves. The manufacturers are increasingly
moving to processing machine made shellac as per demand. As
mentioned before, bulk of the shellac is exported with about
2000 MTs being consumed in the country.
West Bengal is one of the major contributors
to shellac production in the country. The production figure
as per the forest department is given in the following graph.
The production is showing a declining trend for the last 7
years.
Figure : Outturn
of Lac Forest of West Bengal
|
