Herbal forming issues... !

[davidsesh]

Hi,

Now a days we have been hearing lot of news on Herbal farming. and great expectations on the Yielding and the prices.
I have been hearing from various persons about herbal farming with buy back guaranties. In my area few people are doing this crop and they are expecting very good yielding and prices. They stopped all other regular crops and now doing this herbals like Stevia, Neem Gross etc crops. and I got tempted to know what is the secrets involved in this crops.(Like me many other farmers also waiting to know if there is real income available in this area, but so far they know only the people who is having a lot of expectations but not the people who have complete information.)
In this regards I would like to know if there are any known problems in herbal crops like Stevia, Satwar, sarpagandha, ashwagandha etc crops.
I got few responses from people saying they will give Buy back guaranty with agreement. I see many people are promoting the Herbal farming online. (Posting that they require farmers under buy back guaranty scheme for various herbal plants)

If any body has any known issues/experince in this area and posting it online would be helpful for the farmers like me who is trying to start.

I got response like
1) Sarpagandha: Possible expected yield 5-6 Mts of dry root in 1 Acre and Rs.100/Kg, 5-6 lakhs of earnings after 2 years of crop.
to get this results Need investment of 30k-40k(seed cost around 8k/acre)
2) Satwar: Possible expected yield 4-5 Mts of dry root/Acre and Rs. 90/Kg, 3-4 lakhs of earnings in 2 years crop duration.
Here seed cost is around 12k/acre and remaining things are same.
3) Neemgross: expected income: 3L per annum
4) Stevia: 3L per annum
5) Alo-vera: 70k-80k expected income.

Just wondering is this metrics are authenticated or at least in the range of Average Yield/prices.

If those are correct and its proven by any experienced farmer, then every there is no point to bring it here. if it is other way round then posting information here helps to avoid becoming victims of online promoters.
So any info would be appreciated to post in this thread which should be known by the farmer before entering to this kind crops.

Note: here my intention is just to gather the info/experience from other herbal farmers which can be helpful to the start up farmers. By posting known issues/experiences we can avoid people becoming the Victims if there is real issues/tricks in online herbal farming marketing stuff.


Thank you very much,
David

 

[manojsinghchandel]

Hidden facts of herbal cultivation and marketing

CRITICAL ISSUES
1)Information available regarding the formal sector is also limited.
2)No explanations are given for how the aggregations (such as numbers of species being exported or overall value of the trade to India) were calculated or verified (i.e. dry weights or fresh weights; exchange values in effect; self-reporting by companies or based on registration with governments, etc.). The lack of methodological explanation makes it virtually impossible to compare and synthesize related sets of information
3)Largest part of the trade occurs in the informal sector, and is absent from official statistics and trade catalogues. Nearly everyone involved in the medicinal plants trade is very hesitant to divulge information which is essential to a complete understanding --such as prices, supply sources, points of transformation, and transport routes
4)The fluctuation of price during plantation and harvesting was in contradiction and some times results in very stranded condition for growers as well as suppliers

FACTS & DOS

1) Aromatic plants have well established market while medicinal plants have distorted.
2) Some suppliers of saplings/ planting material say they will buy-back, but choose carefully suppliers of planting material, just to sell their planting material they ask for buy-back.
3) Since medicinal plant is directly related to consumption, therefore precaution needs to be taken in every stage.
4) In medicinal plants, main thing is active ingredient it contain. The concentration of a.i. varies with variety, growing condition, harvesting time, harvesting methodology etc.
5) Economics of medicinal plants needs to be understood, grow that medicinal plant which has competitive advantage in your place, for example there are certain medicinal plants which can be grown in hilly areas not anywhere else.
6) Check your own resources than select crop, based upon market requirement i.e. don't cultivate and than search for market, first search for market than select and grow crop accordingly.

For more discussion, feel free to contact.

Regds

Manoj Singh

 

[aromedindia]

Herbal farming

Dear Mr David
Dear
You are hearing about herbal farming quite frequently because of the fact that there is revive interest in raw materials for food, flavor, colours of natural origin. Since these are new crops, and cultivation and processing technologies are altogether different than traditional agri. crops, one expects better return than agri crops and they get. A new technology and knowledge is always paying. Some of the items are to meet the import demand like lavender, patchouli, geranium, rosemary and many more. These are always more lucrative to produce.
There is no such secret. The only thing is that these are not very common technologies, and those earning better returns, definitely have better knowledge than common farmers.

For disposal of produce, buy back should not be always a option. Because, if some individual or company is giving buy back he is fixing a lower price than what prevails in the market. Ultimately one has to know the in and outs of marketing. So, it is better to learn the marketing aspects before taking up large scale cultivation. Otherwise also, one should not jump to large acreage without having full details regarding cultivation, processing and markets.

Person who has suggested you R. serpentina is surely not aware of the cultivation and production details. Because, the seed rate of sarpgandha is 3-4 kg/acre @Rs.3500-Rs.4000/kg. Its root yield is nowhere reported more than 1500kg/ha while you have mentioned a yield of 5-6 Mts/acre. The selling rate of dry root is Rs. Rs.250/-Rs.300/kg and not Rs.100/kg. How the cost of cultivation will come to 30-40k/acre when 8kg seed/acre is required. Seed itself will cost more than Rs.30000/acre.

Therefore, one should go for very cautiously while selecting crop (s) and information given by members here.

Thank you,
aromedindia@gmail.com
9451504200

 

[pioneeragri]

Miths........

It is always better to make survey and analysis before starting a very new venture. I do fully agree with foresaid postings in various aspects and a bit disagree on some points. There are more than one or two views regarding yield, production and economics as medicinal and aromatic plants are still lacking in standardized cultivation packages and also the market is not properly organized as there is no certified mandi nationwide. Many farmers of different regions are following various different practices and getting different results varying in econmocis. Daily I here different experience stories in case of specific crops.

Planting material is really a primary and one of the most important parameter while deciding for these crops. Many suppliers now days selling their seeds at variable prices and it is really difficult to test the authencity of the material regarding germination and genetic potential. Live references and field demonstrations have been proved better while choosing planting material or suppliers. Registered buy back agreements with registered companies (not with individual suppliers or local traders) based on prior market analysis (which is also highly variable) are helpful.

For yield and production, there are also various miths and opinions. For example, Satawar and Sarpgandha, various people report different results ranging yield from 1-2 tons per acre to 4-5 tons acre which is also governed by various crop management practices and mostly by planting geometry. In case of sarpgandha, seed requirement would not be more than 3-4 kg per acre if seed material is fresh and high germination percentage. Generally one kg seed contains 30,000 nos. of seeds approx. If germination % comes to 30-40 (a normal potential), then 3 kgs seed is more than sufficient for one acre considering the mortality factor also in mind. Many suppliers are providing seeds in very less prices, however, in those cases, one doesnt get more than 4-5% germination even less then that or may be nil sometimes. Therefore, one should really be cautious while selecting the seeds and their suppliers and should not go for cultivation without a reliable buy back guarantee or prior market analysis if want to sell on his/her own.

There is a lot of difference in bookish and practical references while making some real practical analysis. Generally recommended planting geometry for Sarpagandha is 60 cm x 60 cm, according to which one acre area (4048 square meters) should consitute around 11,000 plants. However, many farmers are follwing this geometry as 45cm x 45 cm according to which plant desity reaches to about 20,000 plants per acre which is almost double from previous one. With this geometry some farmers are successfully harvesting much higher yields.

Producion per unit area also depends on cultural practices and fertilization aspects. Aforesaid reported yield can be easily obtained when no fertilizer is added for example in forests per unit this much production can be observed which can be enhanced by virtue of good nutrition practices. Regarding price, the above mentioned figure is also higher and there is no guarantee can be provided for price stability in two years period. For example, price of dry satawar roots in present year varied from Rs 50 per kg to Rs 350 per kg in case of white and yellow satawar, respectively and still it can not be guaranteed for stability for the next year. Yield is also drastically different of both cultivars ranging from one to four tons.

Therefore, buy back agreement should be signed by putting an option for negotiation as per present market value of the produce. It is also advisable for companies to quote the minimum price upon which they can be stable during the contract period and farmer couldnt feel insecure and finally at the time of buy back the produce the price must be re-analyzed and negotiated according to present market trend. This would be safe for both parties. Moreover, Sarpagandha itself is not commonly grown as compared to other medicinal crops. Therefore, one may be not able to predict a number of live references and aware only around his/her segment and limited to a shorter span, may be.

Oops...very long message...Don't you think this length of above text indicates how much variation among opinions and experiences and there is a lot to diucuss and analyze more and more as much as you can do. For further details or if needs any clarifications regarding aforesaid discussion, please write us a private message or contact us via our website.

Thanks and regards
Ubaid Khan, Ph.D. (Agri.)
Pioneer Aromatics & Agri Solutions

 

[anil1956]

Dear Friends,

I think this is the best set of critical analysis I have ever seen on this site.

1. The trade in both aromatics and medicinal plants is not managed by matured business men but by opportunists. So they encourage the growers, give the buy back guarantee then sell planting material and at last vanish saying market is not favourable. India is not having good law and its execution in place, to catch and punish such people.
It is better to avoid these crops unless you are capable of tolerating losses or else you should be a large player with several crores investment. You can see many distilling factories closed many processing units in medicinal plants like aloe vera suffering or closed due to various reasons. Traders and political nexus also to blame who would import cheap aromatic oils which are of poor quality and users don't mind poor quality when costs are low in India.If a ban is put on importing, traders will smuggle in small quantities which also can not be stopped.Smuggling, over and under invoice are common practices in foreign trade in this field.


these products are not life saving and nothing happens if you don't grow them. It is also important to know that cultivated medicinal crops may pose threat of residues and lower alkaloid contents because of quick and luxurious growth planned by grower for higher yields.

If growing , processing and marketing are in one hand and he is a big player then these fields work very well.

Conclusion:- High risk

anil patil

Hi,

Now a days we have been hearing lot of news on Herbal farming. and great expectations on the Yielding and the prices.
I have been hearing from various persons about herbal farming with buy back guaranties. In my area few people are doing this crop and they are expecting very good yielding and prices. They stopped all other regular crops and now doing this herbals like Stevia, Neem Gross etc crops. and I got tempted to know what is the secrets involved in this crops.(Like me many other farmers also waiting to know if there is real income available in this area, but so far they know only the people who is having a lot of expectations but not the people who have complete information.)
In this regards I would like to know if there are any known problems in herbal crops like Stevia, Satwar, sarpagandha, ashwagandha etc crops.
I got few responses from people saying they will give Buy back guaranty with agreement. I see many people are promoting the Herbal farming online. (Posting that they require farmers under buy back guaranty scheme for various herbal plants)

If any body has any known issues/experince in this area and posting it online would be helpful for the farmers like me who is trying to start.

I got response like
1) Sarpagandha: Possible expected yield 5-6 Mts of dry root in 1 Acre and Rs.100/Kg, 5-6 lakhs of earnings after 2 years of crop.
to get this results Need investment of 30k-40k(seed cost around 8k/acre)
2) Satwar: Possible expected yield 4-5 Mts of dry root/Acre and Rs. 90/Kg, 3-4 lakhs of earnings in 2 years crop duration.
Here seed cost is around 12k/acre and remaining things are same.
3) Neemgross: expected income: 3L per annum
4) Stevia: 3L per annum
5) Alo-vera: 70k-80k expected income.

Just wondering is this metrics are authenticated or at least in the range of Average Yield/prices.

If those are correct and its proven by any experienced farmer, then every there is no point to bring it here. if it is other way round then posting information here helps to avoid becoming victims of online promoters.
So any info would be appreciated to post in this thread which should be known by the farmer before entering to this kind crops.

Note: here my intention is just to gather the info/experience from other herbal farmers which can be helpful to the start up farmers. By posting known issues/experiences we can avoid people becoming the Victims if there is real issues/tricks in online herbal farming marketing stuff.


Thank you very much,
David

 

[naidubk]

Partnership with buyers

I am one of the person who is eagerly looking for the info on this area from experienced farmers.
Good analysis by different people with various views.

In my opinion, If Buyer is also investing in these type of crops at least in form of supplying the seeds it make sens of buy back agreements. other wise there is no meaning having this kind of stamp papers.
Here buyers can argue that farmers may not come back to them during the yield(may be true for some cases if price is higher than the committed).
In this kind farming Farmer is more dependent on the buyer only as this products can not sell by him self as there is no wide markets. so more chances that the farmer come back to the buyer in the most cases.
when invested by both at least risk is shared by both. other wise investing by the farmer including from seeds is 100% risk at farmer side only.
and buyer is in totally safe side as he already sold the produce and waiting for the yield.
There is no way that Farmers can identify about the buyer intention weather he is really interested in the buy back or he is just looking for selling his seed products.
In case of investing by both responsibility becomes on both parties, Farmer and Buyer both will show more interest in the final outcome of yielding. Other wise I dont see much use of Buy back agreements in this cultivations specially in INDIA where there is much possibilities to escape from agreement.

Of-course the risk is there when any body enters in any agreement. here my intention is the risk should be shared by both the parties not by only farmer.
Marketing is known more by buyers, so they can expect future needs of the product than any farmer. and he can bet based on that if he is really in the business. So in any case investing from buyer is safe side (if he is really looking for buy back) to enter in to this kind of farming.
The following risks can be avoided for farmer if buyer is participating in farming.
1) Seed authenticity
2) % of Seed germination
3) Yielding
4) Marketing

My 2 cents
Knaidu

 

[sampadafarms]

Kind attn. Mr. David,

Dear Members,

Before going for medicinal plant or aromatic plant cultivation, check twice. Dont belevie any false promoses which will assure you lakhs of rupees. We are in this profession since two decades. Whenever we com across such false promises we are denying them.

Any how educating yourself is your responsibility. Learn through the authentic and trustworthy source before going for the cultivation of medicinal or aromatic plant crops.

Govt. of India for every two months is organizing such training programmers for the cultivation of medicinal and aromatic crops at highly subsidised fee. Persons, Farmers, institutions, companies who are interested to know about the medicinal plant and aromatic plants, it is better to join this Three day Programme organised by CIMAP, Hyderabad.

Scientists who have years of practical experience will teach you about the medicinal and aromatic plants. Sure, this is a good way to learn before venturing.

Regards
Raghu Ram