Ranchi Lac Cultivation Palas Ber Host Trees

Ranchi district is the headquarters of Jharkhand's lac cultivation belt, where tribal farmers of the Munda and Oraon communities inoculate palas (Butea monosperma) and ber (Zizyphus mauritiana) host trees with lac insect broodlac, harvesting the crimson resinous cocoon secretion after four to six months as raw kusmi or rangeeni lac for export. Jharkhand produces 50 percent of India's lac output, and Ranchi's lac trading houses at Namkum market set the national price for this forest-based industrial raw material used in sealing wax, shellac varnish, and traditional bangles. Government lac development cooperatives in Ranchi provide tribal growers with quality broodlac, credit, and direct procurement to cut exploitative trader intermediaries from the lac value chain.