Stevia @ 50 paise to 1 Re. per plant or even less if it is from Tissue Culture Lab

Pankaj Oudhia’s Reply to your Stevia related Queries -12114

Your Question: We are planning for large scale Stevia farming in Central India. The internet search is resulting in lots of confusion. The planting material is available @5-8 Rs. per plant. Many are talking about tissue culture plants whereas some are claiming about self developed Stevia varieties. No one is available for genuine guidance. Agricultural Universities have no information on this new crop. Please guide us regarding planting material.

Pankaj Oudhia: Thanks for your message and interest in new crop Stevia. For profitable Stevia farming the cost of planting material must be near 50 paise to 1 Rupee per plant. If it is from tissue culture then price must be lesser than 50 paise per plant. In well established tissue culture plant you can raise Stevia plants at very low cost. It is main advantage of tissue culture technique. It is always good to check whether Stevia grower’s claim is true or not? I visited many Stevia farms in India claiming that they are supplying tissue culture plants but failed to find the tissue culture labs owned by them.

As far as new Stevia varieties are concerned at ground level the observations were discouraging. It is another false claim to cheat the new farmers. In general people in planting material business practice such malpractices. You are suggested to go for genuine Stevia Growers engaged in Stevia processing and marketing instead of mere planting material business. It is general observation that many Stevia growers make attractive websites with fake claims and present pictures with political leaders and film actors. These are business gimmicks. Be careful.

I am not associated with any Stevia farm for business promotion although extended technical guidance to many in organic farming of Stevia. Please feel free to consult on different aspects of Stevia.  

You can send the queries at pankajoudhia@gmail.com . Please write “Consultation” as subject.