🌳 This is How India Plans to Grow More Neem Trees
Can the Amul model work for growing Neem trees in India?
Today, we will talk about Neem.
Ayurveda was born in India. And ~ 80% Indians and Nepalis have used ayurvedic system of medicine to prevent / cure a disease.
As ayurveda gains global acceptance, most ayurvedic ingredients are facing a shortage.
Including Neem.
So today, we will dive deeper into the health benefits of Neem, how many Neem trees exist in India, and how many more do we need.
Read on.
Popularly known as “The Village Pharmacy,” Neem trees go beyond their call of duty of providing shade and oxygen. Every part of the Neem tree has a medicinal use-case.
These are some of the properties:
It’s a truly “Generalist” plant :)
And the benefits don’t just stop here.
The temperature around Neem trees is said to be 3-5 degree Celsius cooler than the surrounding! (not sure what the number is for other plants).
Now that we have established that Neem trees are super useful, what’s the problem here?
High demand, unorganised supply
Today, we have 1 Neem tree for every 50 Indians. The Central Government aims to take this number to 1 for every 10 Indians.
This loosely translates to ~ 18-20M Neem trees; and the target is to reach ~ 140M.
A 7x growth.
To enable this growth, we need high quality seeds. And a supply-chain deep enough to enable collection of these seeds.
Experts at the World Neem Summit recommend: “...develop a collection pattern for neem seeds on the lines of Amul for milk to boost coverage.”
A co-operative?
Yes, that’s what the coverage in Business Line and Business Standard hint towards (and what caught our attention as well!).
That there is a need for a Neem Co-operative to ensure effective collection, storage and distribution of high quality neem seeds.
Just like Amul.
But does Amul just do that? Does it only collect and distribute milk? Of course not.
Amul also enables value creation across the entire milk value chain, and is even getting into non-milk based products, leveraging the vast distribution network it already has.
Could something similar happen for the neem industry?
Co-operatives can start with supply of seeds.
They can then start procuring leaves, branches, fruits, seeds for neem oil extraction and so on to create more value-added products.
Entrepreneurs in states like Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu can benefit by creating neem-focused brands.
Why these states specifically?
Because they have ~ 8-9M neem trees. Almost 50% of total trees in India. So procurement and processing becomes relatively easier.
So… the question really is, could we become global exporters of high quality, neem-based products? And could a co-operative model be successful in enabling this?
India definitely has “proof-of-work” in the co-operative space.
The future for this surely looks hopeful. Worth keeping a close eye on this space.
Time for me to enjoy my neem-patta infused sambar and dosa :)
See you in the next one!
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More Research Resources on Neem:
If you want to dive deeper, can check some of these reports:
Neem's Bioactive Marvels: A Therapeutic Review, a research report by Journal of Health and Rehabilitation Research (JHRR), talks about the extensive health benefits of almost every part of the Neem tree, emphasizing its global recognition in health and wellness circles. Link.
Then there’s this study that talks about the benefits of using Neem oil as a coating material to reduce nitrate leaching in fertilizers, offering an environmentally friendly solution for agricultural practices. Link.
Our moms keep telling us how neem is so good for hair. Research also supports it. This one investigates the benefits of Neem for hair care, particularly its antifungal properties for treating dandruff. Link.
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