Hight density Moringa plantation

We had planted over 850 Moringa trees back in 2012. Due to high volatility in pod rates, we converted over to leaf production for pharma and herbal tea companies. There has been good demand for the leaves and supply has been pretty steady too. In order to augment our production, we have planted another 2 acres of moringa in High density – 2x2 ft spacing. 

While this type of cultivation shows promise, there are inherent challenges. Weeding is the biggest challenge due to close spacing. Incidence of pest attack is more as well. Continuous monitoring is a must. Periodic pruning is required to multiply the leaf bearing shoots.In another 2-3 months, we will get an estimate of leaf yield.

High density Moringa plantation

 Do share information if anybody has tried planting Moringa in High density.

PAVM Moringa saplings for sale

It is that time of the year when Moringa saplings should be planted. Good quality seedlings germinated from farm harvested PAVM seeds are available for sale. Any cultivators looking to setup or expand their plantations may contact us for seedlings. Buyers can request a visit to our Moringa acreages and seek cultivation guidance / clarifications from our farm supervisors. Please reach out at 94450-76595 or mail us at info@saverafarms.com.

Rate per sapling is Rs 15/- each with volume discounts for order size of more than 1000 saplings.

Moringa Leaf : Dehydrator Concepts

This year marked the first year of Moringa Leaf production at commercial volumes at Savera Farms. During our pilot phases, we attempted various post-harvesting techniques like Air Drying. While Air Drying is recommended by some, we found it to be generally inefficient. Moisture levels were uneven and direct / indirect exposure to the sun resulted in discoloration of dry leaves. In the herbal supplement market, color, smell and consistency is highly regarded - and we tend to agree with our discerning buyers!

Since then we have discovered multiple leaf drying techniques and decided to use a dehydrator. Simply explained, a dehydrator is a device which uses warm air to dehydrate the fresh product enclosed in a container. European and American users often use counter top dehydrator models to preserve seasonal fruits and vegetables. Drying fresh produce using this method not only preserves the nutritional content but also does not physically damage the fresh food item.

While commercially marketed dehydrators can be cost prohibitive for a small operation, we were able to use a simple design to construct one for our purposes. There are a few providers of commercial scale dehydrators but during our negotiations, the purchase and setup cost quickly rose to multiple lakh INR. Instead, our initial design included solar dehydration but to increase efficiency we later included a heat lamp so the device could be used indoors as well. Various solar dehydration / cooking methods were popularized in India during 1970s and 1980s. Readers should take inspiration from those tried and tested methods to attempt their own design. There is quite a bit of information available online to modify designs based on your specific utilization.

Harvesting Moringa Leaves

Earlier this year, during the summer months, Savera Farms started working on Moringa leaf production. Once our saplings were about 45 days old, we transplanted them in the fields around first week of September. Some of you may recall, we setup a sprinkler system for Moringa. After initial signs of promise, we realized the sprinklers were not very effective due to strong wind patterns which would disperse the water in non-target areas and lead to wastage. Fast forward several more weeks after installing drip irrigation we witnessed a healthy growth spurt. With the arrival of winter monsoons, our Moringa plants started to look supple and distinctly healthier. The photo below does not do justice since we were several meters away due to an irrigation ditch in between.

Since the monsoons stuck around for a few weeks, it made for a challenging task to harvest and process the leaves. Though we are well into drying and packaging our initial batch, we are still trying to optimize our drying and processing practices. With Moringa leaves, the goal is to quickly dry the harvest, preserve the nutrients and introduce minimum contaminants. In India, most Moringa leaves are collected from existing trees or plantations which were not planned for high volume production. In contrast, we decided to proceed with intense density cultivation, similar to a tea leaf plantation. When the plants were around 4 feet tall, we started to harvest. The expectation is to be able to harvest every 45 days going forward. In an effort to optimize our Moringa for higher leaf yield, we started pruning the trees to about 3 feet level. The rationale behind this was to maximize foliage at lower heights for easy harvest. In an phased manner, we will convert the trees into Moringa 'shrubs' to increase leaf production.

After pruning, the bright green leaves were placed on a drying hammock for air drying. Direct sunlight was avoided under the 75% shade net. After 2 days of air drying, the leaves were crisp and easy to crush. After another day of drying, the leaves were brittle at which time they are expected to contain less that 10% moisture. During the drying process, the leaves turn to a darker shade of green. We expect to conclude packaging our first batch in the coming days and for the next batch we will begin investigating automated or mechanized dehydrators. They should offer a more efficient and controlled drying environment.

Our journey with Moringa leaves has just begun, more to come so stay tuned!

Moringa - Out & About!

Moringa leaf cultivation is an important part of Savera Farm's short term crop portfolio. Over 10,000 saplings were initiated in polybags during last week of June. Typically, saplings are ready to be transplanted in about 45 days, but we decided to delay the task due to meager summer monsoons. In our nursery, the saplings had grown rigorously and were overdue their day in the sun!

During August, we saw the arrival of torrential rains to the tune of 15 mm in one day (yes, we have an udometer!). The temperatures were right, with plenty of humidity, and it was the right time to move the leafy herbs into the fields. Some of you may remember, we are planning on sprinkler irrigation for our Moringa acreages. We are following a grid of 2x2 ft. The depth of the plantation is a periodic 8 ft, followed by a pathway of 4 ft. In other words, the labor would not have to go more than 4 ft inside to harvest the leaves.

During a recent visit to the agir-fair, we discovered machines which can be used for leave pruning at tea farms, etc. There are several providers with varying specs, ranging from petrol driven to battery operated and we are excited to try out these pruners on our Moringa plants. We still have a couple of months before harvest, so stay tuned on our experiences.

After ploughing the field, pit creation and preparation was performed. It took approx 22 man-days to dig 10,000 pits and about 40 man days to plant them. Appropriate amounts of pressmud manure was applied before planting the saplings. We have utilized seeds from our in-house PAVM variety which is currently successfully producing drumsticks.

For those of you, who are interested in cultivating moringa for leaf or pod purpose, we can provide disease free and healthy sapling. We are always looking for producers interested in partnering around bulk production. Similarly, traders or processors may connect with us for their Moringa leaf requirements. Our acreages and cultivator network will continue to grow in the coming months.

Moringa saplings at 20 days!

Some of you may recall that we recently finished bagging and sowing over 10,000 bags for our Moringa leaf cultivation. Growth so far looks promising and healthy. Below, you'll find pictures from our nursery on day 15-20.  We will probably wait another 20 days or so before transplanting them into the field.

Based on unscientific estimates, we have seen approx 85-90% germination. Given the weather, I am pleased with our statistics at this point.

Fresh Moringa leaf is tender and full of nutrition. These are in demand in multiple industries in various forms. Our current stocks will be transplanted into the field at about 15", in about 3 weeks from now.

Given the scope of pilot is limited, we expect to come away with extra saplings which will be available for sale. Reach out to us if any of you are interested in starting your own Moringa cultivations and looking for saplings.We would be interested in buy-backs and long term cultivation relationships as well.

Raising Moringa 101

As alluded to in an earlier posting, we are planning on cultivating Moringa for leaf production. We had earmarked several acres on the plantation, however thought it would be prudent to first pilot the high density cultivation on a smaller scale. We talked to a couple of experts about germination practices and it was recommended to raise a nursery rather than direct sowing in the field. The latter approach has lower germination rates.

So, we recently started our pilot project of bagging and planting 20,000 seeds in 10,000 poly bags. We have decided on a spacing of 2x2 ft which is considered high density but too wide to be ultra high-density. For the pilot our goal was to prepare about 10,000 saplings and 2 seeds were being sowed in each bag.

Soil and manure are being ground into finer granularity to improve germination rates. 

 Bagging and sowing of seeds in process. Ideally, the seeds should be placed 2-3 inches deep and covered with fine soil.

Part of our first batch of bags.

Seeds were treated with a 2ml/L solution of Humic Acid for 1 hours. Subsequently, they were dried before sowing. Once sowing was done, on day 5 about 50 ml of Humic Acid was administered to induce higher germination.. We had a few long days but with a handful of farm labour we were able to produce over 1500 bags a day. With the conclusion of the first step, the next update will be in a few weeks, once we experience sprouting.

Commercial Sprinkler System at Savera Farms

For this year, one of our goals was to install a sprinkler based system for our short term crop. At this time, we are under pilot for 4 acres of CO4 fodder and high density Moringa (leaves) using sprinkler system as the primary irrigation delivery.

Earlier in the year we had inter-cropped CO4 grass within our Mango plots with wide spacing. This impacted our Mango plants due to nitrogen deficiency created by CO4. Although our inter-cropping was 'experts approved' no one advised us of the nitrogen deficiency CO4 can cause. Since then we decided to separate the CO4 grass cultivation to prevent further impact to our Mango plots.

As part of increasing our short term crop portfolio, we decided to venture into Moringa leaf cultivation. Although the trade mostly comprises of traders and middle men, we feel encouraged by a recent spurt of processing units in India. We feel there is a good scope for expansion into Moringa leaves cultivation given its significant  health benefits and (slowly) growing acceptance &awareness. The biggest advantage is that it can be processed, packed and stored - unlike most short term crops. Note : Most buyers we got in touch with turned out to be brokers. Cultivators should establish contact and visit processing facilities of end customers during their crop planning phase.

During our plot design phase, we decided not to go for lateral based drip irrigation due to its high installation and maintenance cost. Inline and online drippers are often challenging to clean/unblock when dealing with intensive cultivation. Rain gun was considered but its limited irrigation area and high water pressure requirement was a deterrent. Eventually, we decided to implement a sprinkler based system. Low maintenance cost, fixed infrastructure (unlike rain gun that requires to be moved around) and uniform coverage were attractive features. Since we are still in pilot phase, the only disadvantage we can foresee is of water penetration into the soil. That may need to be mitigated by extending irrigation time. We hope once CO4 and Moringa take root, extensive watering will not be essential.

A view of the pilot plot after the sprinklers were installed. The sprinkler installation matrix is similar drippers but adjusted to crop, soil, irrigation and spacing considerations.

We took advantage of a recent bout of summer monsoons to disc plough the moist plots. 

Healthy red soil, post ploughing..

Finally, the sprinkler test in progress!

We have recently started with the sprinkler systems and are expecting a learning curve. Are there any cultivators which have hand-on experience with the setup, maintenance and usage of commercial grade sprinkler systems? I am sure all of us can benefit from hands-on experts ..:)

Moringa market trends - An eye opener!

Last year, Moringa started yielding at 6 months. Our gross yield was not significant since the trees were still so small and young. Nonetheless, it was a delight to see long, smooth, green pods. These smaller volumes were not economically feasible for Chennai or other bigger trading markets at the time. Later, during October - December months, the yield further decreased due to monsoons and mild temperatures.

Profuse flowering was seen in January and we are all excited to see what we have in store as far the yield is concerned. It was about the right time to analyze the market and seek potential retail customers in the big town - Chennai. So, we made a trip trip to Koyambedu Vegetable market in Chennai last week to get a sense of the prevailing rates and seasonal procurement practices.

We were able to connect with a couple of big wholesalers/commission agents and discovered that the current wholesale selling rates (end of January) was about Rs 35 - 45 per Kg. The rate is expected to remain in this range for the next 2-3 months. During summer, the average rate drops to Rs 20-25/Kg due to higher supply from within the state, primarily Theni, Dindigul and Tirunelveli.

Moringa from western states starts coming into Tamil Nadu during monsoon months, starting from August through December. Due to reduced local availability, the rates shoot up to Rs 80 - 120 per Kg. This little exercise gave us clear insight of the market dynamics for Moringa trading and exposed opportunities to maximize revenue based on seasonal availability from other parts of the country. Having comprehended the wholesale trends, we visited some of the bigger vegetable shops and retail chains. What we found was quite baffling for us - Moringa was retailing at Rs 70 - 90 per Kg. Contrast this with what we got at farm gate recently - Rs 15-18/Kg! This demonstrates the disparity in the entire supply chain, unfortunately this was somewhat expected. Producers have to bridge the gap between farm-to-fork by embracing innovative, aggressive marketing techniques to maximize returns.

This trip was an eye opener for sure and it was encouraging to see retailers welcoming producers for direct sales, without middlemen. Till the time, producer gets significantly more than farm gate rate and the retailer procures cheaper than wholesale rate, I would say it is a win - win situation for all! Everyone in the supply chain earns more and the inflationary trends are under check.

At this time, we are looking for the most efficient and cost effective way to transport produce from Sivagangai to Chennai. Any recommendations from those who have done it in the past? At Savera Farms, we can definitely use everyone's help and guidance. :)

Finally, my thoughts go back to our goal to form a group of producers to leverage such opportunities collectively - connect with us directly if you are interested in working together. Feel free to share encouraging market trends or stories where producers have opportunities to bridge the farm to fork (retail) gap.

Tractor mounted spraying (Moringa)

With this post, we complete 2 years of blogging today! 

Our journey into this new territory has been full of interesting experiences, most of them good and all of them educational. They say, a road less traveled is less traveled for a reason. However, a couple of years back when we embarked on this project, we undertook a journey not taken by anyone within our family and friends. In the true Techie fashion, we have learned on-the-job, taught a few and are glad to be more than hanging on!

I feel content that we kept our focus intact and tried not to deviate from our goal. Across our crops, we have concluded UHD / High Density planting of 3 Mango varieties, developed a small forest of Melia Dubia plantations, within 7 months started generating revenue from Moringa pods and finally the farm looks lush green where we have CO-4 fodder. Much progress has been made since the 5 palm trees that dotted our southern acreages a couple of years back. A lot of people have been instrumental in guiding us along the way and I am grateful to our families, friends and supporters who are often wiser and smarter than us.

---

Today's post are 2 videos on a subject that we cannot stress enough - mechanization of farm operations. Mechanization is the need of the hour and any progressive farmer has to keep abreast with the latest tools and machines available to make the maintenance phase as efficient and 'labour independent' as possible. At this time we spray every fortnight and it usually takes us 6 hours for our 850 trees. We hope to reduce our spraying to one-half to (once a month) with a solid dose of organic spray.

A recent addition to our farm machinery is a tractor mounted sprayer system. These are videos of when it was initially put to test. Videos can be accessed in the following links:

 

Moringa Spray part 1  

Moringa Spray part 2

You can also view these and other videos at our YouTube Channel :  Savera Farms Youtube Videos

As always, if you have embraced efficient methods of mechanization, we are always looking to do things better, faster, cheaper. At the moment we are exploring various configurations of Rain-Guns for our fodder acreages. If anyone has experience with the Sprayer systems or Rain-Guns, we look forward to some recommendations and words of advice..

Nutritional benefits of dry Moringa leaves - tested!

A few weeks back, I had posted a blog regarding the nutritional benefits of Moringa. In case you missed it, you can find it here.
A fairly exhaustive research was done but we found that the data present online was repetitious. In some cases, it was blatantly copied from one or two sources. Unsatisfied, we decided to get Moringa leaves from our farm tested. A couple of samples were taken and tested at National Agro Foundation, Chennai.

Following were the nutritional content of the samples :

Ingredients	Gross Content
Moisture (%)	9.2 - 9.67
Ash  (%)	6.98 - 7.46
Protein % (N*6.25)	12.48 - 12.59
Phosphorous (mg/100g)	592- 602
Sodium (mg/100g)	110 – 197
Potassium (mg/100g)	1194 - 1220
Calcium (mg/100g)	1136 - 1292
Iron (mg/100g)	27 - 36
Magnesium (mg/100g)	363 - 386
Beta Carotene (Vitamain A) (mg/100g)	0.6 - 3.05

 
Following is the daily value requirement for an average adult with an intake of 2000 calories :
 

Requirement	Amount
Phosphorous (mg/100g)	1000
Sodium (mg/100g)	2400
Potassium (mg/100g)	3500
Calcium (mg/100g)	1000
Iron (mg/100g)	18
Magnesium (mg/100g)	400

Unfortunately, the lab did not have the facility to test other Vitamins, however, it was great to see the results of major minerals.

Based on the results obtained from the samples, 100 g of Moringa leaves have the following % of daily value intake -

Ingredient	Amount Satisfied (%)
Phosphorous (mg/100g)	50
Sodium (mg/100g)	6
Potassium (mg/100g)	35
Calcium (mg/100g)	120
Iron (mg/100g)	172
Magnesium (mg/100g)	94

 
I guess the next question is, how do you incorporate Moringa into your diet? Moringa leaves can be consumed fresh, just like any other green. Dry leaf powder can be consumed with water or sprinkled over other veggies, lentils and soups. If you really want to get adventurous with Moringa leaves, this may help!