PATNA: The cultivation of ‘tulsi’ (basil) plants have boomed across various districts of Bihar, since the coronavirus induced nationwide lockdown was imposed in March last year.
Prominently, youth and retired people have taken a special interest in cultivating these plants.
Muzaffarpur native, Ravindra Kumar Singh, who recently retired after working in a small-scale industry is one of the many keen people partaking in this.
Singh purchased 1 kg basil seeds from a shop in Etowah at Rs 2,500 and developed them into saplings at a village nursery.
“After the saplings were developed, we planted in the filed at the distance of one hand over an acre of land. After three months, more than 100 kg tulsi leaves were cultivated then sold," he said.
Following in Singh's footsteps, many of his co-villagers in Gyaspur began growing the plants in their own lands.
A move, which proved fruitful for one, Mukesh Kumar, a farmer from Samastipur, who said that he began receiving orders from a herbal company after he started growing basil leaves.
“I also processed some seeds from locally grown up plants of tulsi from some nearby villages and developed nearly 500 gram of seeds. The saplings were developed with those seeds and planted later," he said.
Nawal Kishor Thakur, another farmer, retired from a private job in Kolkata, also cultivates ‘tulsi’ plants sells them to a herbal company and some Ayurvedic practitioners.
“I am doing this over a small piece of land. My rates depend upon the demand from buyers in Patna and other parts of Bihar,” Thakur said.
Dip Narayan Chaudhary, a Patna-based Ayurvedic practitioner acknowledged that the demand for 'tulsi' leaves in Bihar has shot up after the coronavirus outbreak hit home.
“Tulsi is used in preparing many herbal medicines to strengthen our immunity system. And the use of tulsi in green tea and herbal 'kadha' has made it all the more popular," he said.
Apart from spelling boon for farmers, unemployed youth of the state too have benefitted.
One Nirmal Kumar, a graduate in agriculture from a private university, and his three other friends have also turned to grow the medically beneficial plant on their lands in Patna and Nawada.
They said that tulsi leaves are culled form plants, dried and sold to some Ayurvedic companies and the practitioners after every three months.
“In fact, this type of cultivation does not need a lot of financial support but yields good income,” Nirmal added.