Botanical Identification: Aloe vera Lin Syn. Aloe barbadensis Miller
Family : Aloeaceae

Aloe vera is a succulent, almost sessile perennial herb growing up to 1 meter. The leaves are radially arranged in two or three circles. Each leaf is 30-50 cms long and
10 cms broad at the base having an indented margin. The leaves are pea-green coloured with occurrence of white spots when young. Bright yellow tubular flowers appear in a spike.

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.

For further information, please mail to info@hitayu.com