lucknow the cultivation of mentha in uttar pradesh is likely to see an upsurge this year after a lull in the past year uttar pradesh records the highest production of mentha oil in the country reports suggest that metha sowing has already started with the recent rainy spell and would be over by the end of february it is estimated that the overall sowing area may remain higher this year the total area under mentha crop cultivation is expected at 210 lakh hectares ha this year from 175 lakh ha during the previous yearmetha had caught the imagination of farmers in uttar pradesh some years ago with a sudden surge in demand for mentha oil in various medicinal and cosmetic industries the biggest chunk of this surge reportedly came from the paan masala and gutka making units however the ban on the sale of gutka in many states in the recent past led to a reduced demand of mentha oil in the domestic sector resulting to its price falling to a little over rs 1100 in october last from a high of rs 1686 a year ago at the same time its demand slowed from overseas markets due to weakening global economiesit is learnt that a huge stock of menthe oil is lying in the mandi godowns in the current season the production of mentha oil is estimated at about 50000 to 60000 tons whereas last year this figure was 38000 to 42000 tons thus up to 40 per cent of stock is estimated to be still lying in the godownsmentha is an aromatic herb used for medicinal oil extraction mentha oil is used widely in cosmetic and food industry as mint for flavour it includes toothpaste mouth freshener medicines drinks mouthwash chewing gum desserts and confectionery products mint leaves are used in beverages jellies and syrupsmentha crop requires considerable moisture well distributed throughout the entire growing season as roots do not penetrate deep in the soil light and frequent irrigations remain useful sowing of mentha crop begins with intermittent rainfall during the shivering cold season in the major producing states including uttar pradesh bihar himachal pradesh and punjabof late however its demand has revived from user industries and its price has gone up againin uttar pradesh menthe has turned out to be a favourite cash crop for farmers and large tracts of farmlands have given way to mentha cultivation it is cultivated extensively in the terai region of uttar pradesh that includes districts of rampur bareilly badaun moradabad besides barabanki bahraich faizabad rae bareli varanasi chandauli lucknow and sultanpur incidentally the uttar pradesh government gives a subsidy to mentha farmers for cultivationthe central institute of medicinal and aromatic plants cimap located in lucknow imparts training to mentha farmers and entrepreneurs while the state horticulture department imparts training to farmers to extract mentha oil from the plant by installing small distillation processing units