A strong breeze rushes around, stirring up fallen leaves and banging doors shut on an exceptionally hot day in Lingamanaickenpatti village in Karur district. It is the region’s kaathadi kaalam (windy season) in this part of Tamil Nadu that is known for its bumper harvests of murungakkai (Moringa oleifera) from February to September.
“The wind knocks down moringa blossoms and the drumsticks that have been left to mature on the trees. We can’t dry the seeds or do any work out in the daytime,” sighs K Saroja, as she switches off the electrical fan in the living room of her homestead to make her voice audible.
Moringa is a hardy plant that thrives in the water-deprived and rocky soil of Karur district. Its long and slender pods, also known as drumstick, are a storehouse of nutrients and a common part of the daily diet in southern India. The leaf ( murunga keerai in Tamil), is also valued for its medicinal qualities.
Saroja became a full-time moringa grower eight years ago after learning organic farming from pioneering agricultural scientist G Nammalvar. “I was surprised to see how little the moringa farmer earns from his or her crop,” says Saroja. “There are days when a kilo of moringa can fetch ₹100. When there’s an oversupply, you’ll get only 40 paise per kilo.”
Better representation
To increase the economic value of drumstick cultivation, Saroja and her peers decided to form the Karur Moringa and Vegetable Production Farmers Producer Company Limited in 2016.
Saroja seen with her sister B Mohana at their moringa farm in Lignamanaickenpatti, Karur district. M Srinath
She is one of six directors and the current chairperson (the first woman in the post), of the non-governmental organisation that groups 480 farmers from approximately 20 villages and is supported by Krishi Vigyan Kendra and National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development.
“Being a company allows us to represent the farming community better in the bigger markets, and also motivates us to add value to our core produce. We don’t want to be yet another group selling pickles and jaggery from rural areas. Nor do we want murungakkai to be associated only with sambar ,” says Saroja.
Healthy veg
In south India, the drumstick sambar is a subject of salty jokes related to its supposedly aphrodisiac qualities. But while moringa is indeed a key component of herbal medicines used to treat reproductive disorders, the vegetable has other health benefits too, especially in skincare, blood sugar management, anaemia and several lifestyle diseases, says Saroja.
Among the innovations she has been spearheading is the production and marketing of edible moringa oil, something she discovered serendipitously when left with unsold stocks of the vegetable.
“Karur district’s farmers have been using the high-yield Periakulam variety of moringa seeds. Unfortunately, they are also the root cause of our problem, because there’s an oversupply of the vegetable pods,” says Saroja. “Then farmers started focusing on selling moringa seeds, which would fetch around ₹800 per kilo, because of interest from pharmaceutical companies. But even this became problematic, because during a bumper crop, people would start bargaining over the seed prices also. Invariably farmers would be left with lots of unsold seeds.”
Edible oil
Three years ago, Saroja decided to test her surplus seed stock by getting it milled in a heavy-duty grinder in nearby Pallapatti. “I got one litre of oil from 20 kilograms of seeds in the first batch, but later, after some experimenting and quality control, we brought this down to 5 kilograms of seeds per litre. We also realised it was better to let the drumstick mature on the tree to extract the maximum amount of oil from the seeds.” A kilo of moringa pods can contain up to 4,000 seeds.
Once the seeds are popped manually out of the dried and spongy innards of the drumstick pods, their outer flaky covering is removed by rubbing them against a hard surface using a wooden plank. The white seeds are then collected for oil extraction.
The oil milling is done in Pallapatti in the presence of a company representative and one farmer to prevent adulteration. A large amount of solid seed mass (called pinnaku ) is generated during the process.
The additive-free oil is brought back to the company premises in Lingamanaickenpatti, and cured in sunlight for 10 days. The resulting golden yellow liquid, which tastes like gingelly oil, is then bottled and sold through doorstep canvassing and the company’s Facebook page.
“Our farmers have to bear the cost of the seed processing and milling. The company takes care of the marketing and claims 20% of the sales profit for administrative expenses,” says Saroja. This is possibly the first time that moringa oil, which has long been available as a medicinal extract online, is being marketed as a standalone edible product.
The company has got Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) certification. “I tested the oil on myself and my family, before sending it to the Indian Institute of Food Processing Technology (IIFPT) in Thanjavur for further research. We have got positive feedback from customers all over the State,” says Saroja. Except for the milling, everything else has been deliberately kept manual to enable better farmer participation, she adds.
Moringa oil costs ₹500 per 100 ml, and at present the company sells around 20 litres per month. The company also retails moringa leaf powder and bath soaps made with extracts of aloe vera, neem and coconut.
Keeping it green
At Saroja’s 25-acre farm, only five acres have been utilised for cultivation due to the water shortage. There are 300 moringa trees, inter-cropped with jamun, coconut, plaintain, and noni (Morinda citrifolia). “We use just cow dung manure and water from our well to maintain these crops. The discarded moringa peels are used as mulch,” says Saroja, who tends to the trees with just one more female worker.
“Many people advised us to go for chemical fertilisers and genetically modified seeds to increase our yield. But after studying organic farming under Nammalvar, it seemed hypocritical to fall into the same rut of agri-business. Our crops are green … and clean,” she says.
More details: www.facebook.com/KMVFPCL/, call 9489434551, 08940882992.
