Two years ago a handful of farmers joined hands to form Prakruthi Udyana Utpattidarula Sangham, a farmer producer organisation (FPO) in Agiripalli of Krishna district. The association, which has been exploring options available for export of horticultural products, has now trained its crosshair on curry leaf oil.
The FPO came up with the idea of curry leaf oil after suffering losses due to recent heavy rains and poor sales during the slack season – March to July.
The farmers associated with the organisation are cultivating curry leaves in about 100 acres. As the production touched 20 tonnes per acre, the farmers have to look for “other alternatives” apart from supplying dried leaves to companies that manufacture herbal medicines. “As an initiative to address these issues, we are planning for curry leaf oil,” says sangham president M. Sridevi.
The Department of Horticulture has come forward to provide financial assistance to the FPO under strengthening of the FPOs. A subsidy of ₹12.11 lakh has been provided to the FPO towards powder weeder, poly film dryer, and a vehicle so far. An estimated ₹70 lakh is required to set up the infrastructural facilities. Of this, ₹8 lakh will be spent on distillation of oils from curry leaves and turmeric. The society members will be sent to the CFTRI for training, officials say.
Tie-up for exports
The outfit, which has about 100 farmers as its members, has an MoU with a firm which exports the raw material, curry leaves, to pharma companies. As production from 40 acre is sufficient to meet the demand from the export agencies, the sangham has to look for a market for the crop from the remaining 60 acre.
During slack season, the farmers do not get more than ₹3 to ₹5 a kg, but during season the price doesn’t go below ₹20 a kg. The oil production will be taken up during the lean period. It will help the farmers make up for the losses if any during the slack season. It is expected that 3 to 5 litres of oil can be extracted from a tonne of curry leaves, says Ms. Sridevi.
Govt. support
The major activities taken up by the FPO are cultivation, curing/drying and marketing of curry leaf and moringa dried leaves. Recently, the women farmers of the FPO have started minimal processing and value addition of the produce, she explains.
Horticulture Commissioner Chiranjiv Chowdary says that the department will extend support for setting up processing units, distillation, packing and also in cultivation. The essential oils like curry leaf oil are primarily used in cosmetics and toiletries, food items and beverages. There is a demand for the oil in European countries, the Middle East and Asian countries, he adds.
