With traditional farming turning to be non-remunerative due to monkey, wild animal and stray cattle menace as well as uncertain weather conditions, farmers of Hill States like Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Jammu & Kashmir are drawing towards the fragrance of bright wild marigold flowers like never before. This, with the help of scientists from the CSIR- Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology (IHBT), Palampur, who have developed ‘Him Gold’, a high-quality new variety of the wild marigold flower, Taget Minuta.
For, the marigold crop offers a suitable substitute as it remains unaffected by these biotic and abiotic factors. The farmers from the region have already produced 3.5 tonnes of essential oils, a natural oil extracted from the flower in just two years since the development of the ‘Him Gold’.
In India, a total 4 tonnes of essential oils is produced to cater the demand of high growth perfumery, pharmaceutical, food flavouring and agriculture industries among a few others.
Dr Sanjay Kumar, Director CSIR-IHBT, Palampur said that agro and process technology package of the crop has also been developed and transferred to the farmers to help them extract maximum from the production. The farmers can meet the growing demand as at present requirement of wild marigold oil in India is met with imports from France, Brazil, Kenya and Australia. It has high demand, guaranteed buyers and lucrative prices, he said.
The price of Tagetes oil varies from Rs 7,000 to Rs 10,000/kg. Farmers can obtain net returns of 1.2 to 1.5 lakhs per hectare by growing this crop and producing essential oil with in a period of 5-6 months
Dr Rakesh Kumar, Principal Scientist associated with the project added that the farmers, rural women and unemployed youth were imparted awareness cum training programmes on cultivation and processing of the essential oil.
“A good number of farmers have already taken up the cultivation and more are showing interest,” said Dr Rakesh Kumar. So far, an area of about 214 hectares has been bought under wild marigold cultivation by more than 600 farmers in the hilly region. The crop is suitable for cultivation in the plains as well as on the hills as a mono-crop or inter-crop in orchards/forest/medicinal/ aromatic plants, he added.
The efforts are already getting recognition. Vineet Sood, an entrepreneur and farmer from Kullu district of Himachal Pradesh who has adopted the farming of this crop under the guidance of the CSIR-IHBT clinched Ultra International ICONIC Farmer Award for impactful contribution made towards cultivation and popularization of Tagetes minuta crop in the district at International Congress of Essential Oil held in Bengaluru in August 2018.
This is just the beginning. The market is huge considering that this essential oil has extensive range of uses such as anti-inflammatory, antifungal and antibacterial, owing to which it is useful for curing wounds, eczema, diaper rash, skin treatment, the treatment of psoriasis, as well as for better skin. Also, it has almost no side-effects as compared to most of the conventional drugs and medicines, said the experts. Increase in the demand for natural personal care products and pleasing aromatic cleaning agents is another driver of the marigold essential oil market.
According to reports, worldwide, production of the essential oil of T Minuta is around 20-22 tonnes per annum with South Africa leading the race by producing about 6.5 tonnes of essential oil/year followed by India (4 t/ha) and Zimbabwe (2 t/ha).