Gumla Sal Seed Oil NTFP Tribal Collection

Gumla district's dense sal forest produces abundant sal seeds in June that tribal women collect by climbing trees or picking from the forest floor, drying in the sun, and selling to NTFP cooperatives or extracting oil using village presses for local cooking and cosmetic use. Sal seed fat (shorea butter) extracted by expeller pressing has a melting point close to body temperature making it valuable as a cocoa butter substitute in chocolate manufacturing; European chocolate companies source certified fair-trade sal fat from tribal cooperatives in Gumla and Simdega. The tribal NTFP collection from Gumla's sal forest provides significant June-July cash income bridging the agricultural lean season between paddy planting and harvest.