Cultivation of Medicinal Plant Success Stories of Two Farmers

taken as medicine. Clean cultivation,interculture operation, regular and needbased irrigation, application of adequateorganic manure, treatment of suker beforeplanting, and cultivation of aloevera insunny conditions are conducive forhealthy growth of the aloe vera crop. Useof organic source of plant protectionmaterials like raw garlic juice, neem oil(10,000 ppm) 2-3 ml / lit, tobacco extractant20 ml / lit gave reasonably good result.YieldHarvesting of leaves starts after 7-8months of planting. Sharp knife is usedfor harvesting. Care has to be taken toreduce the loss of juice from the cutportion. If harvesting is done once in ayear, October – November are the bestperiod for harvesting. Second year givesmaximum yield and for about 4-5 yearsgood yield could be harvested. Afterharvesting leaves are dried in shade andthen in sun before storages. Flowers arecollected in December – January andpreserved after proper drying. Yearly 100– 115 quintals raw leaves and 350 – 400kg flowers / ha are obtained. (3)Medicinal QualityBoth the juice of leaves and flowers areused as medicine, but medicines areprepared from leaves. Intake of juice ofleave, improves hunger, and helps indigestion. Juice when mixed with sugarcures cough and cold. Besides these,it also cures nervous weakness,asthma, Jaundice, etc. The leaf flesh(about 7-8g) mixed with honey, taken inmorning and evening cures constipation.Besides, it is good medicine for manyother diseases.It contains various organic compoundswhich cures diseases. Of these, the mainuse is aloine. Besides, these it contains12 types of vitamin, 20 kinds of aminoacids, 20 kinds of minerals, 200 differenttypes of polysaccharides, and variouskinds of glycol- protein which are used forhuman health. Aloine A, and Aloine B, areprinciples of the ayurvedic medicine. (3)EconomicsExpenditure to be incurred for Aloe veracultivation normally amounts to aboutRs.1,10,000 / ha. The expected income witha yield of about 110 – 115 quintal wouldbe about Rs. 340,000/ha. The net profitwould be about Rs.230,000 /ha/year. Inaddition to monetary benefit, socialbenefit would be anormous. Bettermanagement can results in much higherincome and net profit.Success Story of an Aloe vera FarmerJakir Hussain of village Seoraderiya,block Amta 2, Post Office, Barda, districtHowrah, Pin 711 401. (Mobile09732449555) is a progressive farmer ofhis locality. He has three brothers and 22bighas of land (2.93 ha) in a joint family.Traditionally he grows rice, potato andother vegetables. With the help ofthe local ADO office, he hasparticipated in many training programmes,workshops organized by the statedepartment of agriculture and otheragencies. To meet the crop needs he alsoused organic manures / vermicompost etc. prepared by him. (7)When he was convinced about theprofitability of aloevera cultivation, hedecided to grow this crop. He collectedthe suckers of aloevera from NarendrapurRam Krishna Mission in the South 24Parganas and Sriniketan (districtBirbhum) Visva-Bharati, West Bengal.After a year of cultivation, he could get agood amount of profit. The produce ispurchased by the Centre for RuralDevelopment, (CRD) of Jadarpuruniversity which provides technologicaladvise for the cultivation of medicinalplants and their agro-processing. Heharvests the crop at two months interval.Since produce is purchased by theuniversity, he has virtually no problem ofmarketing.He plans to start a agro-processing unitof his own in future. For the benefit of thereaders the method of cultivation adoptedby him is mentioned here.Techniques Adopted1. Land Preparation.2. Application of about 8 tonnes vermicompost / ha during last plough.3. No fertiliser or chemical was applied.4. The application of ½ kg vermicompost / sucker was applied afterestablishment of the sucker. Theapplication was again repeated.5. Hand weeding was followed.6. Proper drainage facility was provided.7. Irrigations (except during rainingseason) were provided as and whenneeded.8. Number of plants / ha were 2625.9. Harvesting started after 8 months ofplanting.10. In first year three cuttings weregiven.11. Yield / ha was 39.4 tonnes of leaves.12. From 2 nd year on ward 5 cutting wereexpected.13. In three years 13 cuttings are expected14. In three years 170.62 tonnes of yieldper ha is estimated.EstimatedTable 1.income is mentioned inTable 1 – Economics of aloe vera cultivationItem Cost (Rs / ha)1. First year expenditure 2,25,000.002. 2 nd year cost 75,000.003. 3 rd year cost 75,000.00Total cost in 3 years 3,75,000.00Estimated income 25,59,000.00(in 3 years)(Price Rs.15/kg)Profit at the end of 21,84,300.003 years (estimated)4. Profit / year / ha 719,766.00(average)Source : (7)2FERTILISER MARKETING NEWS • March 2010