Hi Experts and the forum,
I am looking to cultivate in my 6 acres land in my native village.We have been not farming on this land as we have come out of the village .I am currently working in a metro and would like to parallel y cultivate in my land which requires low maintenance and i am planning to travel once in a month to oversee.
Please suggest any medicinal or any other plants that require minimal water and low maintenance.
Thanks in Advance.
Rama,
7659879871.
Growing Field and Forest Medicinal Herbs AS A BUSINESS
Difference between Commercial and personal MAP cultivation :
Growing herbs as a commercial crop is very different from growing them for personal use
In general, big buyers want to purchase large volumes at low prices.
Many people try to grow herbs commercially ,most of them make very little money at it.
But a few do really well with it. So let’s look at what they do.
MAP ( Medicinal & Aromatic Plants ) Botanicals :
MAP can be classified in 3 categories as per domestic market demand
Prioritised
Endangered
Lesser known & Underutilised
Site Selection :
Some are annual
Some are perennial
Some are tree
All plant species requires Good soil , Good water drainage , Good air movement , Good water and Low weed pressure
Soil fertility :
Soil pH value can have big effect in MAP cultivation
All the MAP can not be grown in same soil pH . Different MAP species prefers different soil pH
Test soil nutrients, pH and Nematodes
Seed & planting materials :
Planting materials either hybrid or heirloom variety seed / sapling / bulb / graft etc. )
Make sure planting materials ( seed / seedling / bulb / graft ) are authentic
No compromise with quality planting material
Multi layer / Multi crop MAP cultivation :
Weeds not only compete with MAP but their presence is a contaminant in the final product .
Try to plant a diversity of MAP species
Multi layer ( roots / leaves / fruit-seed-flower ) cultivation can reduce weed growth substantially
Enrich and protect soil with organic mulch
Good Agricultural Practice ( GAP ) :
Implement GAP in your farm land
Processing :
Mechanical drying instead of traditional sun drying in open field
Crude MAP must meet basic specifications of the buyer i.e. Moisture , Foreign matter , Heavy metals , Microbial analysis etc.
The raw crude medicinal herb market is volatile:
Diversity of herbs can help MAP cultivation business successful
Have multiple markets of different kinds.
Have other related income streams ( value addition ) besides selling crude herbs.
