Women in Aloe Vera village of Jharkhand achieve self-reliance
Ranchi, 16 February 2021 (HS) Deori Village in Nagri Block of Ranchi is famously being called the ‘Aloe Vera Village’ due to a substantial amount of Aloe Vera being produced in the village. When visiting Deori, one can easily spot Aloe Vera flourishing in the courtyards and the fields. Majority of the Aloe Vera is cultivated by the women of the village, the process has allowed them to earn a livelihood for themselves and achieve self-reliance. One of the many cultivators, Manju Kachchap says, “our village is becoming popular across the state due to the increased Aloe Vera production and it is a matter of great pride for us. We are working hard towards improving production and getting our village recognized at the national level.”
The Birsa Agriculture University is working in close coordination with the women of the village to ensure the entire harvest is sold off within the state. Day by day the demand for Aloe Vera is only increasing, so much so that the village isn’t able to satisfy the increasing demand. This has led to many other families taking up cultivation of Aloe Vera in the village and making it their main source of income. Manju adds, “Due to the high demand of aloe vera gel, we are working towards taking our production to the next level by filtering the leaves for gel production. The government is soon going to provide us with the gel dispenser. In the future, we will not only produce Aloe Vera leaves, but we will also start producing the gel. Once we get into the business of gel production, a farmer cooperative will be formed to take care of supply chain management”
A female cultivator explained, due to the excessive sunlight many crops require a huge amount of water supply. Luckily, Aloe Vera production requires less attention in terms of irrigation. Additionally, there is no cost for plantation. The left-over plant root after every harvest serves the function of a seed for the next crop. Therefore, the cost of replantation is reduced majorly. The cultivator further commented that with great demand in the market and low cost of production, it is a win-win situation for them. With government’s support, they will never have to look back and can enter the big leagues with respect to Aloe Vera production.
