Dear Sir,
Current Market Scenario
Raw Material
The current global turnover of raw aloe leaves amounts upto US$ 70-90 million dollars, which is expected to grow at a rate of 35% in the next five years.
Processed Derivatives
The current global trade is estimated at around US$ 1 billions and is steadily increasing.
Value Added Products
The world market for aloe based finished products is stated as around US$ 25 billions.
Present Gobal Players
USA supplies the major bulk of aloe in world market having a share of 60-65%, whereas Latin American countries supplies 20-25% and Australia, China and India combinedly has a market share of only 10%.
Keeping this high rising global demand and India's conducive geo-climatic conditions for cultivation of Aloe vera in view, cultivation of this herb must be promoted. This will fetch India good foreign reserves as well as domestic economic prosperity.
Cultivation practices
Propagation Method - Pups (root suckers)
Plantation method - Ridges
Planting Material Requirement Per Acre - 5500
Soil requirements - Loamy
Climatic Requirements - Tropical, Sub- tropical
Area Where Cultivated - Through out India up to 5000ft above mean sea level
Spacing - Plant to plant - 30-45cm
- Row to row - 60cm
Typical No. of Plants / Acre - 5000
Sowing Period - June - July (monsoon)
Harvesting Period - After 12months
Manures & Fertilizers - FYM ( 5-10 Tons / Acre )
Irrigation - Rainfed, Sprinklers
Useful Part - Leaves
Harvesting - Manual cuttings after 18 months and 3 – 4 harvests can be done. Gel extraction (with in 3hrs of plucking)
Yield Per Acre - 525 qtls/ha
Economics - For production in 1 acre of land it cost nearly Rs.50,000.00 while the profit comes around Rs.40,000 per acre.
Processing unit
Aloe to be transformed into marketable form needs processing. The unit should preferably be located nearer to the cultivation site. The processing unit with a capacity of 1 ton gel output per day costs Rs. 20 lacs. The extraction of aloe is a labour intensive work so the quantity that can be processed also depends upon the availability of labour.