Salfi tree produces milky liquid (Juice, natural alcoholic drink) being used by tribals in Chhattisgarh as means for natural mood elation in lieu of wine from time immemorial is now gradually getting endangered variety due to some strange infection inflicted upon them in entire Bastar region.
Scientific endeavours are on to save this tree, an integral part of tribal lifestyle and need of every household, said an agriculture scientist Angad Rajput. Cause of the infection to trees has been diagnosed and soon all the salfi producer of the region would be informed about the remedy to get their plant rid of disease, he said.
Rajput said that reason for the fatal infection of salfi trees have been found out by agriculture scientists, but how to treat these trees is yet to be discovered.
Research work started last year to address this menace on the trees in Shaheed Gundadhur Krishi Mahavidyalay and Sah Vigyan Kendra, Kumarvand, he added. For want of proper remedy salfi trees of the rural region of Bastar are fast vanishing.
Noticeably, salfi trees are found in abundance especially in the rural region of Bastar, and the juice also called salfi is popularly known here as Bastariya Beer. A grown salfi tree may fetch at least Rs 25,000 to Rs 30,000 profit to the respective owners but strange infection to the trees has landed poor villagers in soup, making them bereft of their juicy yields.
