# Stevia farming: Boon for upliftment of the economic conditions of farmers

Ajeet Kumar, Anupam Amitabh, Sunita Kumari Meena, Anil Kumar Singh, Sanjay Kumar Singh, Kumari Sunita, Ashish Rai

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Ajeet Kumar, Anupam Amitabh, Sunita Kumari Meena, Anil Kumar Singh, Sanjay Kumar Singh, et al.. Stevia farming: Boon for upliftment of the economic conditions of farmers. AGRIBLOSSOM, 2022, pp.17-22. hal-04935350

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Submitted on 7 Feb 2025

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Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
## Stevia farming: Boon for upliftment of the economic conditions of farmers

Ajeet Kumar¹, Anupam Amitabh¹, Sunita Kumari Meena¹, A. K. Singh², Sanjay Kumar Singh³, Kumari Sunita⁴ and Ashish Rai⁵

¹Assistant Professor-cum- Scientist; Department of Soil Science, SRI, Pusa

²Director, Sugarcane Research Institute (SRI)

³Assistant Professor-cum- Scientist; Department of Soil Science, TCA, Dholi

⁴Assistant Professor (food & Nutrition), CCSc

⁵Laboratory Technician, Directorate of Research, RPCAU, Pusa, Bihar-848125, Bihar.

¹,²,³,⁴,⁵Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa (Samastipur)-848125, India

**Corresponding author:** E-mail: ajeetrau@gmail.com

The Stevia plant (Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni), belongs to the Asteraceae family (Sunflower family). It is a perennial herb cultivated for its high economic value due to its sweetness. It is a natural sweetener plant known as “Sweet Weed”, “Sweet Herbs”, and “Honey Leaf”, which is estimated to be 300 times sweeter than cane sugar. It is one of the 154 members of the genus Stevia which produces sweet steviol glycosides. It is a natural sweet herb native to northeastern Paraguay. Stevia is a diploid plant, having 11 pairs of chromosomes with a critical day length of 13 hours. Stevia is a small perennial growing up to 65-80 cm. tall, with oppositely arranged leaves and flowers white and small seen in terminal inflorescence. Of all the different species, Stevia rebaudiana is the sweetest one. It grows best in upland areas in a sub-tropical climate.

## Introduction

India is the largest consumer of cane sugar. It has the largest diabetic population in the world.

Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni is a zero or non - caloric natural source alternative to cane sugar. It is a non-nutritive, high-potency sweetener and a substitute for sucrose. Its sweetening power is due to stevioside and rebaudioside-diterpene glucosides, which are 300-450 times sweeter than sucrose. Stevioside is present in a concentration of 3-10% of dry matter. It is recommended for diabetes and has been tested for its efficacy on animals, and used by humans with no side effects. Stevioside passes through the digestive system without chemical breakdown; this makes it safe for consumption by diabetic patients. Stevioside have been successfully marketed in conjunction with sugar as a ‘double strength” sugar. Marketing with sucrose could enable the sugar industry to provide a complete range of sweeteners including low-

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calorie and no-calorie products. In soft drinks alone artificial sweeteners (imported) currently replace the equivalent of 40,000 tons of sugar a year. This plant was first classified by Swiss botanist Moises Santiago Bertoni in the year 1940 and they named it *Stevia Rebaudiana* Bertoni after himself. The Genus was named for Spanish botanist and physician Petrus Jacobus Stevus. It is cultivated in countries such as China, Brazile, Columbia, Paraguay and Venezuela in the world while in India it is widely cultivated in a different states of India such as Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Kerala, Karnataka and Odisha. Nowadays; the up-regulated demand for sweeteners based on the natural way has motivated the farmers of India toward the cultivation of *Stevia* at a large scale. Japan is credited as the first significant successful cultivator of Stevia. Presently, China stands first in its cultivation and supply domain. It caters to almost the entire world's consumption as of today. Stevia was advent in India about eight to nine years ago as a cultivation crop. It is reported that the active compounds of *Stevia* are *Stevioside* and *Rebaudioside* mainly. Both are reported to be 150 times sweeter than sugar (Cardello *et al.*, 1999). Rebaudioside has the bitterness of all the steviol glycosides in Stevia. These are separated and purified by using the crystallization techniques of ethanol or methanol-based solvent.

## Conducive Environment and Soil Preparation

It naturally grows in low-lying areas on poor sandy acidic soils adjacent to swamps and requires constantly wet feet of the shallow water table. Under cultivation and on more fertile soils, the mature plant can be larger, up to 1.8 m with up to 20 branches per plant. Soil should be well drained but with reasonable water holding capacity and preferably with pH 5-7.5. *Stevia* prefers a sandy loam or loam incorporated with organic matter is the best way to improve heavy, high clay soils. Compost and other organic residues improve soil structure and supply nutrients. Finished compost may be tilled, disked, or spaded into the soil before planting or used as mulch later on. Growing a 'green manure' crop from the previous year such as oat, rye, or legume will also improve heavy soils. Stevia thrives well with soil pH as high as 7.5. However, Stevia does not tolerate saline soils.

## Fertilizer Dose

For Stevia cultivation, the requirement of fertilizers is moderate. Even though theoretical nutrient usage of *Stevia* might be 105 Kg N, 23 Kg P, 80 kg K per hectare based upon nutrient removal through harvesting, maximum rates of NPK 40-20-30 are suggested.
## Plant Density and Irrigation

Most cultural systems involved transplanted seedlings and so densities less than the optimum are usually recommended to save costs. Densities of 80-100,000 plants per hectare on row spacing of 45-65 cm are generally recommended for higher yield. Supplementary irrigation is assumed to avoid water stress on plants.

## Weed

Seedlings are very susceptible to weed competition until well established. Black plastic mulch and very high-density planting (up to 200,000/ha) have also been shown to be effective for weed control. Alternative planting and hand weeding will control the infestation of weeds in the field.

## Pest and Diseases

Stevia is not known to have serious insect pest attacks and is often reported as exhibiting insect-repellant qualities in field conditions. The documented disease is very less in number. Even though, some pest and disease problems occurring in Stevia are given below.

### Insects

Insects do not appear to be a problem. Stevia has shown clear aphid resistance-the sweet taste being a possible deterrent to insects. Slugs have reportedly attacked new tillers after winter dormancy. In greenhouse conditions, aphids, thrips and white flies may become a serious problem for Stevia.

### Disease

The disease does not appear to be a major problem, although the first known incidence of Sclerotinia, leaf-spot Septoria and black-spot Alternaria infections have been recorded.

### Harvesting

In colder climates only one harvest per planting is possible. Under these circumstances the harvesting can be done at the onset of cold weather when yield is greatest; early harvesting will reduce total yield. By covering the harvesting crowns of the plants (with polythene etc.) plants can survive over winter and production for a second season can be possible. Harvesting should be before flowering at flower bud appearances as the steviosides content of the leaves falls when flowering commences. Under the late autumn conditions, artificial drying is generally required to reduce the plant moisture content to less than 10%. Harvesting is effective by cutting the whole plant 5-10 cm
above the ground. The time of the onset of flowering varies with variety, with some varieties flowering once a day length decrease. Crushing of the main stem (conditioning) at harvest does not appear to be normal practice, even though this would reduce drying time.

## Yields

Commercial yield, 1,600-2,000 kg dried leaves/ha/year. Experimental yield suggested that system with multiple harvests a year will give higher yields and, where ratoon crops are grown, harvest in the second and third years are likely to be greater than for crops requiring replanting each year. Yields for second-year (ratoon) crops can be higher than for first-year crops.

## Post Harvesting

Harvest the whole crop green and transport it to drying facilities: sun drying or artificial drying kilns. With low humidity, sun drying of a thin layer of cut plants can be quite rapid (9-10 hrs) to reduce plant moisture from approximately 80% to 10%. Kiln drying can take two days. Fast drying is likely to give 'Better quality' dried leaves. If cut plant material is not dried quickly leaf quality can deteriorate by oxidation, losing up to one-third of stevioside content after three days. High temperatures during artificial drying can also lead to loss of content. Green dried leaf colour is desirable and represents good quality, as for hay production. After drying, leaves are stripped from the stem by hand or mechanical thrasher before leaves are packed for transport to processing. Stems of stevia plant contain little or no sweeteners, although it is suggested that these may contain some flavor enhancers and other agents of potential use for improving food stuffs or alcoholic beverages.

## Processing and Manufacturing

The traditional method of use by the Indians was to dry the leaves and to use them to sweeten teas and medicines or to chew the leaves as a 'sweet treat'. Stevia was regularly used in drinks many times a day, with no side effects. The use of dried leaves is not unacceptable in domestic cooking. There may be an unpleasant aroma associated with the dried leaves. Appropriate processing of the dry herbage can remove this aroma which is due to specific leaf compounds. Aqueous extracts of the leaves-boiled in water, cooled, then filtered, are preferred and better suited for controlled levels of sweetening.
## Requirement of Labourers

The demand for labour will vary from time to time and it will depend on the market channel and product marketing. Hand planting, harvesting and packaging of the products for retail would make Stevia a labor-exhaustive crop. Stevia grown for bedding plant production have comparable labor requirements as other annuals that are planted, transplanted, and harvested for sale as bedding plants.

## Economic Considerations

Initially, the investments include the purchase of seeds and land preparation. The additional cost includes product and market development, advertising and education to consumers. Wholesale and retail prices of stevia are variable and this price instability indicates that stevia is still an emerging and experimental new crop.

## Usefulness of Stevia Products and Extracts

Stevia extract has been in use by native South Americans to reduce weight, treat wound infections, inflammatory conditions and swelling on the legs and as a tonic to treat depression. Similarly, the Paraguayan Indians used dried stevia leaves to sweeten tea and medicines. They used stevia in drinks many times a day (Varmudy V. 2014).

## Different use of Stevia

Different uses of stevia in food and clinical application are as:

### Food and Culinary Uses:

* Tabletop sweetener for tea and coffee. soft drinks, cordials, fruit juices, ice cream, yogurts, sherbets, cakes, biscuits, pastries, baking, jams, sauces, pickles

* Jellies, desserts, chewing gum, candies, confectioneries, sea-food, vegetables

* Weight-watcher diets, diabetic diets, flavors, colour and odour enhancers. It is a source of antioxidants, alcoholic beverage enhancer (aging agent and catalyst)

### Medicinal Uses:

* Toothpaste, mouthwashes

* Skin care eczema and acne control, rapid healing agent, diabetic food and weight loss programs, hypertension and blood pressure control, calcium antagonist

* Bactericidal agent, pill and capsule additive to improve the taste
Other Uses:

* Tobacco additive and flavourant

* Production of plant growth regulators (potential use)

Health, Safety Issues and Stevia Controversy

Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), on dated 20 September 2012 approved the use of steviod glycoside as an artificial sweetener in various foods. The use of stevia makes it more attentive as it is safe for diabetics, it does not affect blood sugar levels as well as it does not have side effects on renal system and neurological system

Conclusion

Critical areas for additional knowledge and research are required before the stevia industry can be established, Identification of adequate varieties, the development of reliable procedures for crop establishment from seed, Development of harvesting and drying procedures essential for efficient mechanization. Standardization of appropriate processing procedures will produce a natural product of reliable quality.

References

Varmudy V. 2014. Stevia: An Alternative for Sugar. Facts for You. 15-17. wwwFFEymag.com

Cardello, HMAB, Da Silva, MAPA, Damaso MH. 1999. Measurement of the relative sweetness of stevia extract, aspartame and cyclamate/saccharin blend as compared to sucrose at different concentrations. *Plant Foods for Human Nutrition* 54(2): 119-129.

Ranjan R, Jaiswal J and Jena Jitendra. 2011. Stevia a natural sweetener. IJPRC. 1(4) Stevia-Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia.