Shraddha Agro plans to expand vetiver cultivation to 1,000 acres

Plans farmer awareness conferences across both the States

Shraddha Agro announces its expansion plans to take current acreage under vetiver cultivation from 120 acres to 1000 acres in the next 3 years. The company will tie up with farmers in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana for expanding crop area under its cultivation by entering in to contract farming agreements with local farmers.

Under this initiative, the firm is going to supply vetiver plants to select farmers who fit the criteria and will buy back entire produce from farmers at the end of 14 months tenure of the crop. The farmers have to take plants from Shraddha Agro in the first year of cultivation. From second year onwards, the farmers can reuse the plants for replanting.

The ideal time for planting the vetiver is between December to March and June to August. The per acre yield would be 2 tons of roots, which may go up to 6 to 8 tons in highly fertile lands under good water management and good care by farmers.

Farmers will benefit substantially under vetiver cultivation, compared to traditional crops like paddy and sugarcrane. The each farmer can earn up to Rs. 1,00,000 per acre in a year, which may go up to Rs. 2,00,000, if yield of the roots peer acre goes up to 4 tons in fertile lands.
Vetiver plants are very strong and can withstand extreme heat and cold conditions and rains. These plants are disease free and easy to manage. The sandy loamy or dry lands or lands used for commercial crops are suitable for cultivation. Lands suitable for paddy cultivation are not suitable for vetiver cultivation.
Many farmers in both the States have been lured by small traders by attracting them in to lemongrass oil famously known as Nimmagaddi. These traders have no knowledge of aromatic oil market and cultivation and have no formal tie ups with leading perfume manufacturers in the country.
Because of this, we are encouraging farmers to move away from lemongrass oil to high-end and high value oils like vetiver, where profits are very high, disease free and low labor intensive cultivation. We are happy to guide all the farmers in cultivation of vetiver throughout its crop cycle. As we have an existing cultivation of 120 acres of aromatic oils under cultivation, we have enough experience and had well tested the yields and suitability of the crops for lands and whether conditions in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
The firm has outlined series of farmer awareness conferences in Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Srikakulam and Vijayanagaram in the next two to three months.
Commenting on the development, S Rama Naidu, Partner said that, “Vetiver is a miracle crop and big boon for the farmers to increase incomes. This would increase farmers income by three to four times. This crop has demand not only in India but also across the world. India is gaining big ground in cultivation of vetiver. The investment in this crop is also reasonable as compared to returns. Farmers need not worry about marketing of their produce, as we would buyback entire produce at fixed price, which would be agreed at the time of sowing the plants. We are the only firm which is cultivating vetiver in large scale in both the States. ”