Conspicuous by its absence in the Diwali goodies tray this year was the chilgoza nut. Only the very wealthy could afford the nut at Rs 600 But the absence tells a story: of greed and neglect.Confined to the Himachal-Kashmir border and parts of Kinnaur and Chamba, chilgoza forests account for 3,200 hectares in Himachal Pradesh. Forty years ago, the area produced around 2,000 quintals of the nut each year. Today, the figure is around 900 quintals.The reasons for the gradual fall in production are many. For one, farmers lop off branches of the trees unscientifically to collect the seed-bearing cones. Nor has there been any planned rejuvenation of the forests. Then there are insect attacks: The borer effectively takes care of the seed cones that slip past the marauding farmer; its larvae bore deep inside the cone, thereby ruining its reproductive prospects.‘‘The farmers’ habit of cutting off tree branches is detrimental to the future of the forests,’’ admits R N Sehgal, head of the department of tree improvement and genetic resources, Dr Y S Parmar University, Nauni-Solan.But no politician wants to risk his vote bank by cracking down on farmers. And scientific efforts have been unsuccessful. ‘‘We have tried to create chilgoza plantations in nurseries. But our efforts failed because of bird, rodent and animal attacks,’’ says Sehgal.Experts say demarcating protected forests and promoting mass plantation of the chilgoza could be the only way to save the nut.
