Post News Network
Gopabandhunagar, June 4: Puffed rice, known as Baripada ‘mudhi’ is most popular across Mayurbhanj. People’s day begin with a cup of tea along with puffed rice. The rising demand for the puffed rice has made it a cottage industry, which has provided livelihood to scores of people in number of villages.
To meet the growing demand, people have started using of machines to churn out puffed rice. Take the example of Sanabelakuti village of Pasuda panchayat under Gopabandhunagar, where residents have made puffed rice business a lucrative one and strengthened their economy. Most importantly, the new generation has also adopted the traditional mudhi making profession and become self-sufficient instead of running after jobs.
Their success story has inspired several others in the nearby villages. Around 85 per cent people of the total population of 1600, is into mudhi making business. Surprisingly, some farmers even cultivate rice to meet the demand for mudhi.
Thursday and Sunday are market days every week where traders sell their bloated rice and make a good earning.
According to some farmers, earlier famers used to yield a variety of paddies like Paniruhi, Mugeishala, Kakhuria, Patini, Nardi, Jameinadu, which are good for making puffed rice. With changing time, people have started new varieties of paddy, which are suitable for making mudhi.
The new high-yielding varieties are Shankar, Puja, Khetrabashi and Moti, but the demand for puffed rice from indigenous paddy is high, said a farmer Ramchandra Behera.
Behera recalls the days of 1980 when mudhi business in the village started on a small scale.
“Only two to three persons including me used were into puffed rice business. Puffed rice in a certain sized tin-container was sold for `5, but now that is sold for anything between `100 and `120. The mudhi produced here has a specialty brand among people across the district.”
Another mudhi trader Maheswar Mahala said, “Just mentioning the name of Sanabelakuti mudhi is enough to trigger immediate sale. Our forefathers used to send puffed rice to the kings of Mayurbhanj. Mudhi has a special place on the occasion like marriages, bratas and other festivals.
Parbati Mahala, a local woman, said, “A few years ago, sacks of mudhi loaded on 10 to 15 bicycles were being sent on a daily basis. Now, 25 to 30 autorickshaws or Tata Ace vehicles transport it.
Many women self-help groups have taken up rice roasting. Tilotamma Behera, president of Radhakrushna SHG and Basanti Behera, president of Laxminaryan SHG, said that the market is flooded with machine-roasted mudhi, but manually made mudhi has high demand. They said that they started the business with loan of `2 lakh each from banks. “Now we earn enough to meet the educational expenses of our children and also afford their tuition fees.
Mudhi trader, Chatrubhuj Prusty said that during Raja festival, bloated rice is transported on a large amount to Balasore, Jaleswar, Bhadrak, Bengal and other places.
