| The company is planning to diversify into cultivating lemon grass and palma rosa. |
| Started five years ago, with 1,000 plants of rosatdamacina (a variety of rose that has a higher oil content than other varieties) in one-fourth of an acre (in one acre, 4,000 saplings of rose are planted), the company has increased the area under cultivation to 7.5 acres. |
| Company Partner Pavneet Uppal said, "The price of rose oil is about Rs 2.5 lakh to 4 lakh per litre in the domestic market, and hence it is lucrative for farmers to diversify. Moreover, it requires very little water. So the yield is about 700-800 kg of roses per acre, of which .025 per cent of oil is extracted, which comes to around 200 gm," he added. The average cost of plantation for one acre is about Rs 10,000 per acre. |
| Uppal said, "For 15 years, the main requirement is timely pruning. So in the first year the return is almost negligible, but unlike other crops, one doesn't need to plant repeatedly." The climate of Punjab is suitable for this variety, according to Uppal. |
| Uppal said the firm was in the process of stabilising the technique of production and was planning to increase the area under contract farming in rural areas, because labour cost was less as compared to urban areas. "We have to assure farmers there is a return of Rs 20,000 per acre, and increase per acre production from 800 to 1,000 kg per acre and that can be done by improving nutrition," he said. |
| Talking about demand for rose oil in international markets, he said Bulgaria was the leader in the production of rose oil, but once it was freed from communist influence, the price of rose oil would go up. Then India might emerge as a big producer, provided the government spread awareness about crop diversification and provided inputs to farmers, he said. |
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