Agriculture is the source of life for the coastal, malnad and grasslands of Karnataka which primarily grow commercial crops like arecanut, banana, coconut, coca, sugarcane and others. However, now a new commercial crop which can be grown anywhere is gaining importance in the region. This new commercial crop is Lac or Aragu in Kannada.

Lac is a natural resin secreted from lac insects that live in certain host trees and commercial cultivation of lac is made possible by infesting the insects to host trees. The resin is red in colour and is secreted by tiny female lac insects Laccifer lacca to protect their body and the young ones. 

The word lac is derived from the Sanskrit word lākshā' due to the enormous number of insects needed to produce the resin. The resin is not a new discovery for India has been familiar with the resin since ancient times. The Hindu culture was familiar with the use of this natural resin There are references of Lac in Atharva Veda. 

Lac was a major commercial crop in earlier India for the country was the largest exporter of Lac up to 19 century and production decreased due to the synthetic lac. However presently, the world is again back towards natural resins and Lac cultivation has regained its priority. Thus once again, Lac cultivation is growing back and is financially helping Indian farmers as a crop, business and cash crop.

In the current world, there is no area where the benefits of Lac are not utilised. Lac is majorly used in industries like, chemical perfume, pharmaceutical, electrical and food.

In Karnataka Kadamba Foundation was the pioneer institution which was instrumental in reintroducing and promoting the Lac cultivation. The foundation conducted several training programmes in association with IINRGRanchi, KVKSirsi and UASDharwad with the aim to inform and train the farmers in process and profits of lac cultivation.

Scientists from Indian Institute of Natural Resins and Gums (IINRG), Ranchi have proved research that the soil composition and weather conditions of Uttara Kannada district in Karnataka were ideal for lac cultivation. Accordingly, lac cultivation was started at various locations in the district including Sirsi, Ankola, Mundgod and Siddapura, and many farmers made profits and found success in lac cultivation.

The most common host plants are Dhak (Butea monosperma), Ber (Ziziphus mauritiana) and Kusum (Schleichera oleosa). The host trees are pruned before the right season and when the new shoots sprout, broodlac sticks containing the insects are tied to the beaches. The insects slowly colonise and produce lac.

The harvested stickler is crushed, sieved and washed to remove impurities. The resulting product is known as seedlac and is sold at Rs 600 per kg in the market. During the harvest, a little amount of lac is preserved to serve as the broodlac for the next cycle and the ret is scraped off to be sold as stickler.

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