Advice to Start Herb Growing in India
Answered by: Richard Alan Miller
Question from: M Desai
Posted on: January 20, 2006

Have seen the article on the web site.

At present I am in USA since last eight weeks.

Basically Mechanical Engineer with over 25 years of work experience.

Now looking forward to start growing Aromatic / Medicinal Plant / herbs in INDIA for export to this part of the world.

Having 10 acres of land in South Gujarat in India.

Need your advice:

1 What products one should look at (interested in multiple products)

2 Method of cultivation.

3 Equipment requirements for processing leaves / roots etc.

4 Which web sites useful for getting updated information.

5 Any additional information.

Thinking to grow STEVIA (sugar substitute), PATCHOULI (aromatic plant), Dudheli (for purifying blood), COLEUS (aromatic).

Looking forward your guidance and help.

Selecting the right crops takes more than 30 years of guessing, with background in both marketing and previous mistakes. You might start with "Getting Started," at www.herbfarminfo.com. My website may also have a few extra points for consideration at http://www.nwbotanicals.org/oak/altagri/a_a_index.html

I plan to add to that site shortly with more than 300 technical crop reports, similar to that found at www.herbfarminfo.com, time and life willing. I have learned how to take my older documents and quickly convert them into PDFs. They will not be as detailed or as finely edited as The Small Farm Series, but will reflect my 30 years working with each crop.

You really need to hire a consultant to help determine which crops might be best now, not just from your interest and sense of what is important. Conrad Richter tries to guess ahead of time by making specific seed available for the farmer’s requests. I guess that means he needs a crystal ball even before you or I.

I am available to assist you on a limited basis, but may not be as good as someone you might find in India. http://www.nwbotanicals.org/oak/oakservice.htm India is now leading the world in published literature on the cultivation and markets of most herbs and spices. China is running a close second to Canada. The US is all but basically out of that game now, due to the terrible drop in markets these last six years.

All of my best farmers, many with 14 to 16 years of experience, have dropped out of that industry -- basically with no markets to sell on speculation. The need this next year for 60,000 new farms is going to break our backs to third world competitors. And, who is going to train them? Farming requires skills in usually more than four fields, and that mostly had to come from childhood and growing up with that environment. Even the Amish have felt this bite.

Of the four crops mentioned, only stevia holds any future for cultivation. And yet, I had 4,400 lbs. I could not find a home for this last year. That means the markets are not yet back to stable, and such crops that would have futures ("legs?") cannot be sold yet, even by the best of us. I would guess that by the time you actually had a crop for sale, Stevia would be quite marketable.

And, predicated on where you decide to farm in India will dictate which other crops might want to be selected. The second part of that equation is to make sure you don’t need different equipment for each crop, but select those which take advantage of your local and regional "Appropriate Technologies" (Canadian term).

I’m sorry I can’t be more specific, but what you ask is really quite broad and require someone who is given your investment amounts available, land situation and habitat, and where the markets are going in that period. You realize, of course, that what you need to choose is not what is sellable now, but what will be sellable in three years, when you finally do have something to sell. Start with "Getting Started." Marketing resources are listed at my website.

With those inputs, how else can I help you?

Back to Commercial Herb Production and Marketing | Q & A Index

Copyright © 1997-2024 Otto Richter and Sons Limited. All rights reserved.