agriculture

For Cultivation The Plant Need Specific Requirement :

Monitor light.
Temperature.
Relative Humidity.
Air Pressure to read the plant requirement.

Know about Stevia:
Stevia is a natural, non-caloric, sweet-tasting plant used around the world for its pleasant taste, as well as for its increasingly researched potential for inhibiting fat absorption and lowering blood pressure.

CULTIVATION OF STEVIA
Supply of seedlings and Buy back:
Rishi Herbals will supply seedlings to the cultivators who wish to grow Stevia. The company will also buy back the dried leaves from the farmers.

Land preparation:
The land should be ploughed initially with a disc plough or harrowed to break down the clods. Fine tilth of soil is required for Stevia cultivation. I to 2 ploughing has to be done after harrowing.

Soil type:
Red Soil and sandy loam types are best suitable for the cultivation of Stevia with pH between 6 to 7. Clayey loam soil does not show good results.

Raised bed preparation:
Forming raised beds is the best and economical way to grow Stevia. Raised bed of height half feet and width half feet is required. The distance between the 2 rows in bed is one feet. The distance between each plant in a row is half feet. With such a spacing the plant population is around 50,000 plants per acre.

Irrigation :
Microsprinkler is the best method of irrigating Stevia plants. Flood or canal irrigation would not supply the required amount of water at the right time. Microsprinklers, can be used to sprinkle the water once in a day in winter and 4 times in a day in summer or more depending upon the heat and relative humidity in the air. Watering frequency should be scheduled so that the plants do not wilt for want of water.

Organic application and plant protection:
There is no such pest and disease incidence in this crop. In case, any disease symptoms are noticed, spraying of neem oil diluted in water is the best organic method. For root grubs use castor oil mixed with cow manure and spray very little near the plant.

Neem oil spray-cold processed oil is Rs 80 per liter. 30ml neem oil is added to I liter of water and stirred well. To this emulsifier is added (I ml / I liter). It is very essential to add the emulsifier and mix properly. This should be used immediately before the oil droplets start 40 floating. Spraying should be undertaken in the morning or late in the evening. During hot conditions the frequency of spraying should be more. In winter spraying once in 10 days and in rainy season, every day spraying is recommended. Insects lay eggs on the underside of the leaves. Hence it is important to spray on the underside of the leaves as well. While using a powder sprayer reduce the quantity of spraying to half. It is better to use low concentration of extracts frequently. Each acre of land can be sprayed with 60 liters of ready to use solution.

Weeding:
Removal of weeds can be done manually. Since the crop is grown in raised beds, intercultural operations are easier by manual labour.

Maintenance:
Flowering of the plant should be avoided. Since Stevia has a significant apical dominance, the plant tends to grow tall and lanky. Pinching of the apical bud would enhance bushy growth of the plant with side branches. With good management the perennial plant can be maintained economically for 3?5 years.

Harvesting :
Harvesting of the leaves is done by plucking the leaves, if required in a small quantity. The entire plant with the side branches is cut leaving 10 to 15 c.m. from the basa

Post harvest technology:
The harvested branches are shade dried and the dried leaves are stripped off from the branches.
Temperature for cultivating stevia:Stevia can grow in places where the climatic conditions are favourable and the maximum day temperature is not exceeding 35 deg. Centigrade with the night temperature not failing below 12 deg. centigrade. The places where the temperature is 'high, one can use Microsprinklers to bring down the temperature to the required level for achieving good productivity.

From the data and the matter in this booklet, it is amply clear that stevia is a very useful herb for application at home and in industry (confectionery, soft drinks, beverages, Indian sweets) as a sweetener and also as a dietary supplement. It is therefore essential that large scale cultivation must commence very soon in India to meet the huge emerging demand of the sweet conscious Indian consumers. The customers wish to eat sweet foods without the risk of developing ailments like Diabetes.

Since the market is developing very fast with new products like Liquid Stevia Extract & Stevia blended Tea, Rishi Herbals has decided to come up with a Special Buy Back scheme to encourage cultivation of the Paraguayan herb in various parts of India.

Cost of Cultivation Per Acer : 3 Year Crop
Harvest once a Quarter :
Bed Systes - Spacing 3/4 X 3/4 X 1

	First Year	Second Year	Third Year	Fourth Year	Fifth Year
Cost of Plant 40000*2 (Age of the plant is 90days	80,000	-	-	-	-
Ploughing 2 ploughings 6 pairs @ Rs.250/pair	1,500	-	-	-	-
Bed preparation	2,000	-	-	-	-
Planting of Stevia	1,500	500	500	500	500
Gap Filling (Seedlings & Maintaing)	-	2000	2000	2000	2000
Irrigation	5,000	5,000	5,000	5,000	5,000
Orgarue Manures	5,000	5,000	5,000	5,000	5,000
Weeding	1,000	1,000	1,000	1,000	1,000
Harvest	5,000	5,000	5,000	5,000	5,000
Lead Drying, Packing, Transport	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000
Expenditure	1,01,000	28,500	28,500	28,500	28,500
INCOME
Value of Produce @	3 Ton/yr/ac	4 Ton/yr/ac	4 Ton/yr/ac	4 Ton/yr/ac	4 Ton/yr/ac
Rs.50/kg Per years (3000kg*50)	1,50,000	2,00,000	2,00,000	2,00,000	2,00,000
Less cost of cultivation	1,11,000	28,000	28,000	28,000	28,000
Net Profit	39,000	1,72,000	1,72,000	1,72,000	1,72,000

Cultivation Pictures :

spring--september 22 to december 21

summer-december 22 to march 21

aujumn---march 22-to june 21

winter-june 22 to september 21

Rishiherbals

agriculture

Stevia leaf

essential & aromatic oil