Stevia cultivation, still a long way to go in India

Money doesn't grow on trees, runs the maxim. While many of us believe in it, a perennial shrub "� stevia "� has been proving this statement wrong.

Heralded as the 'sweetener of the future', the plant has been taking the farming community by storm worldover (both for its medicinal values and commercial prospects).

This, however, is not the case in India, despite it being a fertile ground for the cultivation of the 'money plant'.

For the uninitiated, stevia rebaudiana bertoni is a fairly unassuming perennial shrub which grows primarily in Paraguay (though the name sounds Greek). Now the crop is being cultivated in Brazil, Israel, Thailand, the US and China, and in few states in India.

Touted as 'nature's calorie-free sugar alternative', stevia contains several chemicals called glycosides which makes it 30 times sweeter than sugar, but has practically no calories (0.2 calories per gram).

Stevia has been cited for its ability to aid against several conditions including candida, high blood pressure, weight loss, tooth decay and gingivitis, digestive ailments, nicotine and alcohol cravings, acne and other skin ailments.

According to G Sathyanarayana Reddy, associate professor at the college of horticulture, Acharya NG Ranga Agricultural University (ANGRAU), stevia grows in temperatures between 35 and 45 degrees celsius.

"India has suitable climate for stevia cultivation. In spite of this, stevia cultivation has not been taken up on a large scale. On the contrary, China is dominating the market and it grows 80 per cent of the world's stevia leaf, while Japanese commercial products such as diet soft drinks sop up 2,000 tonnes of stevia extract a year (41 per cent of the global stevia market). Major multinational food companies such as Coca Cola and Beatrice Foods too are convinced of stevia's safety, and India being a major market for these MNCs, it has a lot of potential in the future," he said.

According to him, lack of awareness among the farming fraternity on the medicinal values and the commercial prospects of the crop, besides lack of state governments' support have been the major setbacks.

"According a 'priority crop' status, and setting up of industries for processing of dry stevia leaves and by-products may help in encouraging stevia cultivation in India," he said.

G Madhu, managing director of Hyderabad-based Green Agri Biotech, which provides cultivation and processing know-how on medicinal and aromatic plants, said, "It is estimated that about three crore Indians are currently suffering from diabetes. And by 2025, India's contribution to the global diabetic population is expected to be a whopping eight crore. Such a huge share of the population being diabetic means huge demand for stevia."

"The central government has been extending a 30 per cent subsidy on the plant while Nabard is sanctioning loans of up to Rs 2.40 lakh per acre. Even the Chattisgarh government is giving a subsidy of 20 per cent on the plant to the farmers. If the other state governments too initiate similar measures, the country would emerge as the leader in the global stevia market," he said.

"While the plant grown in India contains 10-18 per cent of stevioside (a glycoside), it is only 8-12 per cent in other countries. But to comply with the international standards, we are restricting it to 9-12 per cent. This too is one of the benefits that India can leverage against other countries," he said.

Giving insights on the commercial prospects of the stevia crop, Madhu said, "Each plant costs around Rs 5. The ideal planting density is 30,000 plants per acre. The initial investment required for cultivating stevia is Rs 2,35,000 per acre in the first year. The crop can be harvested 10 times a year up to seven years."

An acre of stevia can yield upwards of 2,500 kg in the first year and over 3,000 kg per acre from the second year (support price Rs 100, buyback price Rs 185), translating into a net profit of approximately Rs 3,75,000 per acre, he added.