Aloe Vera
Aloe barbadensis miller
A hardy, drought-tolerant succulent grown across Rajasthan (Barmer, Jodhpur), Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, propagated from offset suckers rather than true seed and harvested by repeated leaf-cutting for several years from the same planting — most of the crop moves through contract farming with cosmetics, pharma and juice-processing buyers rather than the open mandi.
Quick Summary
The key points from this page in about two minutes — read it or have it read aloud.
Quick Summary
Aloe vera (Aloe barbadensis miller) is a hardy, drought-tolerant succulent grown across Rajasthan's Barmer and Jodhpur belt, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. It is planted once from offset suckers, not true seed, and then harvested repeatedly by cutting mature outer leaves every few months for three to five years or more from the same field before the planting is renewed — closer in that sense to a perennial orchard crop than to a normal annual field crop.
The gel-bearing leaf is the entire product. It is cut, processed fresh or dried into powder, and sold mainly to cosmetics, pharmaceutical and juice/beverage processors — Patanjali, Dabur, Baidyanath, Emami and Himalaya Wellness among the major buyers. Most commercial cultivation happens under a buyback or contract-farming arrangement with a processor rather than open-market sale, which is why aloe vera shows essentially no organised Agmarknet mandi trade even though it is a genuinely and widely grown commercial crop.
The varietal landscape is thin and mostly built around a handful of NBPGR-registered high-aloin or high-gel accessions rather than named, marketed cultivars — IC 111271 is the variety most commonly specified in contract-farming agreements, alongside CIMAP Lucknow's AL-1 selection. Growers should not expect a wide shelf of branded seed the way they would for a cereal or vegetable crop; sourcing genuine, disease-free offset material from a known nursery or the contracting company matters more than chasing a specific variety name.
Because establishment happens once and then the same plants are harvested repeatedly for years, aloe vera is treated on this site like a perennial crop rather than a normal annual field crop: it sits outside the crop calendar, crop recommender and irrigation and seed-rate calculators built around a single sowing-to-harvest cycle, the same way avocado, imli and jackfruit do.
- Crop type
- Perennial succulent, propagated from offset suckers (not seed)
- Season
- Planted at monsoon onset or under irrigation; leaves cut year-round once established
- Suitable states
- Rajasthan (Barmer, Jodhpur), Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh
- Time to first harvest
- 8–12 months; productive for 3–5+ years from one planting
- Water requirement
- Low; drought-tolerant once established, needs regular water only at establishment
- Temperature
- 20–35°C; tolerates strong heat, sensitive to frost and waterlogging
- Soil type
- Light, sandy to sandy-loam, free-draining; pH 6.0–8.5
- Difficulty level
- Easy agronomically; the real challenge is securing a buyback contract
- Expected yield
- Roughly 30–50 tonnes fresh leaf/ha/year once established
- Market model
- Mainly contract/buyback farming with processors, not open mandi trade
Overview
Aloe vera (Aloe barbadensis miller, commonly called ghritkumari in Hindi) is a hardy, drought-tolerant succulent grown commercially across Rajasthan's Barmer and Jodhpur belt, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. Unlike most crops covered on this site, it is propagated from offset suckers — small plantlets that form naturally around a mature mother plant — rather than from true seed, and a single planting is harvested repeatedly for three to five years or more before it needs renewing.
The crop's whole value sits in its thick, gel-bearing leaves. Mature outer leaves are cut close to the stem every few months once the plant is established, leaving the crown and younger leaves to keep growing, so the same field yields a series of harvests rather than one cutting. Cut leaves are processed fresh for gel and juice, or dried and milled into powder, feeding a real industrial demand from cosmetics, pharmaceutical and juice/beverage companies — Patanjali, Dabur, Baidyanath, Emami and Himalaya Wellness are among the major buyers of Indian-grown leaf.
Most serious aloe vera cultivation in India happens under a buyback or contract-farming arrangement, where a processing company supplies planting material and agrees a price in advance rather than the grower selling on the open market. This is a genuinely different commercial model from a mandi-traded field crop, and it is the real reason a direct check of the Agmarknet dataset finds no organised trade under any plausible name for the crop — the market exists, but it runs through direct company contracts, not APMC yards.
The varietal landscape is genuinely thin. Rather than a shelf of named, branded cultivars, Indian aloe vera cultivation is built mostly around a small number of NBPGR-registered germplasm accessions selected for high aloin (medicinal-grade) or high gel content (cosmetic-grade) — IC 111271 is the accession most commonly specified in contract-farming agreements with major processors, alongside ICAR-CIMAP Lucknow's AL-1 selection. This site represents that landscape honestly rather than inventing marketed variety names that do not exist; what actually matters for a new grower is sourcing clean, disease-free offset material from a known nursery or the contracting company itself.
Crop timeline, sowing to harvest
A quick visual map of the season — jump to any section below for the detail behind each stage.
- Year 0
Land preparation & planting
Offset suckers separated from mature mother plants are set into ridges or raised beds at the start of the monsoon or under assured irrigation, at a spacing that gives each plant room to multiply its own offsets.
- Month 1–6
Establishment
Young plants root in and put out their first new leaves; light, regular watering and weed control matter most in this window, before the crop's later drought tolerance kicks in.
- Month 8–12
First harvest
Once plants have a full rosette of mature leaves, the first cutting of outer leaves can begin — considerably faster to first harvest than any of the perennial fruit trees on this site.
- Year 1–5
Repeated leaf harvest
Mature outer leaves are cut every 2–3 months across the growing season for as long as the planting stays productive, typically three to five years, while the crown keeps producing new leaves.
- Ongoing
Offset multiplication
Each mother plant continuously produces new offset suckers at its base, which are periodically thinned out, used to expand the planting, or sold on as planting material.
- Year 4–6
Field renewal
As leaf size and yield decline with plant age, the field is eventually cleared and replanted with fresh, healthy offset material rather than left to decline indefinitely.
Suitable states
States where this crop is grown at scale, highlighted below. Your local Krishi Vigyan Kendra is still the final word for your specific block.
- Jammu and Kashmir
- Himachal Pradesh
- Punjab
- Uttarakhand
- Haryana
- Delhi
- Uttar Pradesh
- Rajasthan
- Bihar
- Jharkhand
- West Bengal
- Sikkim
- Assam
- Arunachal Pradesh
- Meghalaya
- Nagaland
- Manipur
- Mizoram
- Tripura
- Gujarat
- Madhya Pradesh
- Chhattisgarh
- Maharashtra
- Odisha
- Goa
- Telangana
- Andhra Pradesh
- Karnataka
- Kerala
- Tamil Nadu
- Puducherry
- Ladakh
- Chandigarh
- Lakshadweep
Grown here
Climate requirements
Aloe vera's climate needs mirror why it is grown where it is — Rajasthan's Barmer-Jodhpur belt and similar dry, warm tracts elsewhere give it exactly the heat and dryness it wants, with irrigation reserved for establishment rather than the whole crop cycle.
Ideal temperature
A genuinely warm-climate, drought-hardy succulent thriving at 20–35°C; it tolerates strong summer heat well but is frost-sensitive and can be killed or badly set back by a hard winter cold snap, which is why its core belt sits in the warmer arid and semi-arid states rather than the cooler hills.
Rainfall
Very low water need once established — aloe vera is grown specifically for its drought tolerance, doing well on light, low rainfall with only occasional supplementary watering; it does not want a genuinely wet, waterlogged spell at any stage.
Humidity
Prefers a dry atmosphere; prolonged high humidity favours leaf and root rot rather than helping the crop.
Sunlight
Full sun gives the thickest, most gel-rich leaves; aloe vera grown in shade produces thin, sparse leaves with lower gel yield.
Soil requirements
If there is one soil rule that matters most for aloe vera, it is drainage — this succulent is built to survive drought, not standing water, and a waterlogging-prone site undoes every other advantage of the crop.
Suitable soil
Light, sandy to sandy-loam soils suit it best; the crop specifically dislikes heavy, poorly drained clay, which encourages root rot in this genuinely rot-prone succulent.
pH range
Roughly 6.0–8.5, a wide tolerance that includes the mildly alkaline soils common across its dry-zone growing belt.
Drainage
Excellent drainage is essential, arguably more important than for most crops on this site — aloe vera's thick, water-storing leaves and roots rot quickly in standing water, so a free-draining site or raised bed is not optional.
Organic matter
A modest requirement — a well-rotted farmyard manure dose at planting establishes the crop well; a mature planting needs only light annual maintenance manure.
Land preparation
Same four steps whichever region you are in — only the timing shifts with the sowing window.
- 1
Form ridges or raised beds
Prepare the field into ridges or raised beds rather than a flat surface, specifically to keep the root zone free-draining and away from any standing water after rain or irrigation.
- 2
Work in farmyard manure
Mix well-rotted farmyard manure into the bed or ridge before planting to give the young offsets a fertile start, since a mature planting will otherwise need little further organic input.
- 3
Source clean offset planting material
Obtain healthy, disease-free offset suckers from a known nursery, an ICAR/state institute, or the contracting processor itself — planting material quality matters more here than for most crops, since a diseased offset can spread trouble through years of repeated harvest from the same field.
Seed information
How the main varieties compare, so you can pick by duration, yield, disease pressure or what you are growing for.
| Variety | Duration | Yield | Disease resistance | Best state | Suitable for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
An NBPGR-registered high-aloin germplasm accession, the type most commonly specified in commercial buyback and contract-farming agreements with major Indian processors including Patanjali and Hamdard. Its large leaves (commonly cited around 500–700 g per leaf) and gel percentage in the 35–40% range make it the default commercial planting choice rather than a competing branded cultivar. | First harvest at 8–12 months; productive 3–5+ years | The benchmark commercial type; roughly 30–50 t/ha/year fresh leaf once established | Not separately documented; standard field hygiene applies | Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh | Contract farming for cosmetics/pharma processors, general commercial planting |
A second NBPGR-registered accession noted in the same registered-germplasm group as IC 111271, selected more specifically for gel density and quantity, making it a reasonable choice where a buyer prioritises cosmetic-grade gel yield over aloin (medicinal) content. | First harvest at 8–12 months; productive 3–5+ years | Comparable to IC 111271, selected for gel yield specifically | Not separately documented | Rajasthan, Gujarat | Cosmetic-grade gel production where a processor specifies this accession |
A high-yielding selection released by ICAR-Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (CIMAP), Lucknow — reported to carry a somewhat smaller leaf than IC 111271 but a significantly higher leaf count per plant, a real trade-off between per-leaf size and overall plant productivity worth weighing against local processor requirements. | First harvest at 8–12 months; productive 3–5+ years | High leaf count per plant; smaller individual leaf size than IC 111271 | Not separately documented | Uttar Pradesh and other CIMAP-linked growing areas | Growers prioritising overall plant leaf output over single-leaf size |
- Seed rate
- Not a seed crop — planting material is offset suckers, not seed: roughly 16,000–20,000 offsets per hectare at a spacing of about 60 × 45 cm to 60 × 60 cm, adjusted to the specific accession's mature leaf spread.
- Certified seed
- Source offset suckers from a known nursery, an ICAR/state horticulture or medicinal-plants institute, or directly from the company you plan to sell to under a buyback contract — many contract-farming arrangements supply planting material as part of the deal. Avoid unverified planting material from an unknown source, since a diseased offset can spread problems through a planting that will be harvested repeatedly for years.
- Spacing
- Roughly 60 × 45 cm to 60 × 60 cm between offsets, giving roughly 16,000–20,000 plants per hectare.
- Seed treatment
- Not applicable in the usual sense — inspect offset suckers for firmness and freedom from rot or pest damage before planting, and let a freshly separated offset callous over for a day or two before setting it into the bed to reduce rot risk at the cut base.
Sowing guide
Because the same plants are harvested for years, getting planting material quality and spacing right at this one-time establishment stage matters more than for a crop replanted every season.
- Best time
- Plant offset suckers at the start of the monsoon (June–July) for rainfed establishment, or at any time of year under assured irrigation, avoiding the coldest winter weeks in frost-risk areas.
- Row spacing
- 60 cm
- Plant spacing
- 45–60 cm within the row
- Sowing depth
- Set the offset's base just into the soil, firm enough to hold it upright, without burying the lower leaves.
- Method
- Offset suckers are planted directly into prepared ridges or raised beds; there is no nursery-raising stage the way there is for a seed-propagated vegetable.
Fertilizer schedule
A split dose beats one large dose applied at sowing — nitrogen especially is lost to the air and to leaching if it all goes in on day one.
- 1
At planting
Land preparation
Roughly 10–15 tonnes/ha of well-rotted farmyard manure worked into the ridges or beds before planting the offsets.
- 2
Establishment
First 6 months
A modest, balanced NPK dose to support root establishment and early leaf growth, applied lightly since aloe vera is not a heavy feeder.
- 3
Maintenance, mature planting
Annually
A light annual dose of farmyard manure and a modest NPK top-up supports continued leaf production across the years of repeated harvest, following general succulent/medicinal-plant practice rather than an intensive field-crop schedule.
Irrigation schedule
1. Establishment
First 3–6 months
Regular light watering every 10–15 days supports the young offsets while they root in — this is the stage at which aloe vera most genuinely needs irrigation.
2. Mature planting
Year 1 onward
Largely rainfed or minimally irrigated once established; occasional watering in a prolonged dry spell supports leaf size, but the crop copes without it far better than most vegetable or field crops.
Critical stages
- First 3–6 months after planting
Water-saving tips
- Aloe vera is grown specifically for its low water need — over-watering a mature planting risks root rot far more than it helps yield.
- Ridge or raised-bed planting sheds excess water away from the root zone automatically, reducing how much irrigation management is needed at all.
- Drip irrigation, where used, should be run sparingly on a mature planting — this succulent stores its own water in its leaves and does not need frequent watering the way a leafy vegetable does.
Weed management
Common weeds
Organic control
- Hand-hoeing between rows in the first 6 months, before the crop's own leaf canopy suppresses most new weed growth, is the standard low-cost method.
- A light organic mulch between rows conserves moisture and suppresses weeds at the same time, useful given the crop's wide spacing.
- Because aloe vera is harvested repeatedly for years from the same field, keeping weeds down early prevents them from becoming established perennial competitors over the planting's life.
Chemical control
- Chemical herbicide use is uncommon in aloe vera given the crop's wide row spacing and easy hand-weeding; where used, a directed pre-emergence herbicide between rows is more common than an over-the-top spray.
- Confirm any herbicide with your local KVK before use, particularly since aloe leaf itself is a food/cosmetic-grade product.
Nutrient deficiency identification
What a shortage of each nutrient actually looks like on the plant, so you can tell a deficiency apart from a disease before you spray the wrong thing.
Nitrogen
Visible symptom
Pale, thin leaves and slow new-leaf production, worst on light sandy soils with little organic matter.
Potassium
Visible symptom
Leaf-margin yellowing and generally reduced leaf thickness, which directly affects gel yield since gel content scales with leaf thickness.
Zinc
Visible symptom
Stunted, crowded new growth at the crown, more likely on the alkaline soils common in the crop's dry-zone belt.
Diseases to watch for
Symptoms, likely cause and what actually treats it — not just a spray name.
Phytophthora root rot (leaf-base collapse)
- Symptoms
- Soft, water-soaked, discoloured patches on leaves or at the base of the plant, progressing to collapse of affected leaves or the whole plant in a bad case.
- Cause
- Phytophthora and related water-mould fungal pathogens, favoured almost entirely by excess soil moisture and poor drainage — this is overwhelmingly a waterlogging-driven problem in aloe vera rather than a humidity-driven one.
- Treatment
- Remove and destroy affected plants or leaves promptly to stop spread; there is little effective cure once rot has set in, making prevention the real management tool.
- Prevention
- Excellent drainage and ridge/raised-bed planting are the primary defence — avoiding overwatering matters more here than any spray programme.
Leaf spot
- Symptoms
- Small brown to reddish spots on the leaf surface, generally minor and cosmetic rather than yield-threatening on a well-drained planting.
- Cause
- Fungal leaf-spot pathogens, more likely where humidity is unusually high for the crop's normal dry-zone conditions.
- Treatment
- Usually not economic to spray a large planting; remove badly affected leaves where practical.
- Prevention
- Avoid overcrowded planting and excess overhead watering that keeps leaf surfaces wet.
Pests to watch for
What to look for before the damage is visible, and organic options before you reach for a chemical.
Mealybug
- Identification
- Small, waxy-white, cottony insects clustering at the base of leaves and in leaf axils.
- Damage
- Sap-sucking weakens the plant and reduces leaf vigour in a heavy infestation, though aloe vera is generally lightly troubled by pests compared to most crops.
- Organic control
- A neem oil or soap-water spray on affected clusters, plus manual removal on a small planting.
- Chemical control
- A need-based systemic insecticide only where infestation is heavy and spreading, mindful that the leaf is a food/cosmetic-grade product.
Aphid
- Identification
- Small, soft-bodied insects clustering on new growth at the crown.
- Damage
- Generally minor sap-sucking damage; rarely a serious threat to yield on this crop.
- Organic control
- A 0.3% neem oil spray on affected new growth.
- Chemical control
- Rarely needed given the crop's generally low pest pressure; a need-based spray only where infestation is heavy.
Common mistakes to avoid
The mistakes that cost growers the most, ranked by how often they show up in the field — not in the order you might expect.
- 1
Planting on heavy, poorly drained soil or a flat, non-ridged field.
Why it hurts
Aloe vera's thick, water-storing leaves and roots rot quickly in standing water — this is the single most common way a new planting fails, regardless of how well everything else is managed.
- 2
Starting a planting without a buyback contract or confirmed buyer in place.
Why it hurts
Because there is essentially no organised open mandi trade for aloe leaf, a grower without a processor contract or a confirmed local buyer can end up with a harvestable crop and nowhere established to sell it.
- 3
Over-watering a mature, established planting.
Why it hurts
The crop is grown specifically for its low water need — routine heavy irrigation on established plants raises root-rot risk without a corresponding yield benefit.
- 4
Using unverified or diseased offset planting material.
Why it hurts
Since the same plants are harvested repeatedly for three to five years or more, a problem introduced at planting can affect every harvest from that field for the life of the planting.
- 5
Cutting leaves too young or too aggressively.
Why it hurts
Harvesting leaves before they reach full maturity gives lower gel content and yield per leaf, and stripping too many leaves from a single plant at once can set back its ability to keep producing.
Harvesting
Begin cutting mature outer leaves once the plant has a full rosette, typically 8–12 months after planting, and continue cutting the lowest, oldest leaves every 2–3 months for as long as the planting remains productive — commonly three to five years or more from a single establishment.
Signs it is ready
- Outer leaves have reached full size and thickness for the accession grown
- Leaves are firm and turgid, not wilted or discoloured
- The crown continues producing new inner leaves to replace those cut
Tools
- A sharp knife for cutting leaves close to the stem without damaging the crown
- Baskets or crates for collecting cut leaves
- Gloves, useful given the sap's mild skin irritation for some handlers
Expected yield
Roughly 30–50 tonnes of fresh leaf per hectare per year once a planting is established, varying with accession, spacing, age and management; yield typically peaks in the second to fourth year before declining as the planting ages toward renewal.
Post-harvest & storage
Storage
Fresh leaf is processed quickly, usually within a day or two of cutting, since the gel degrades and the leaf itself is prone to rot once separated from the plant. Where drying into powder is the end product, leaves are processed and dried promptly rather than stored fresh for any length of time.
Packaging
Fresh leaf for direct processor delivery is packed in ventilated crates; dried aloe powder is packed in moisture-proof, food-grade containers since it readily reabsorbs moisture.
Transportation
Fresh leaf should reach the processing point quickly, ideally the same day as cutting, since delay lowers gel quality; under most contract-farming arrangements the buyer collects directly from the field or a nearby collection point.
Shelf life
Fresh cut leaf keeps only a day or two before quality drops; properly dried, airtight-stored aloe powder keeps for many months.
Market prices
Today's mandi price near you, pulled live from the government's own Agmarknet data.
Live daily mandi prices from the government Agmarknet dataset.
Government mandi price not available for this crop
This crop is not traded through APMC mandis covered by the government’s Agmarknet system, so there is no mandi price to show here.
Reference MSP: Mainly contract/buyback farming with processors, not open mandi trade
Weather
Current conditions and a 5-day outlook for your selected location, with one line of stage-aware advice.
Pick your state for current conditions and a 5-day outlook.
Live data from Open-Meteo
Profit calculator
Your own cost sheet, expected yield and selling price — not ours.
Where the money goes
Share of the total cost per acre, using the calculator’s own default cost sheet below — adjust the numbers there to match your field and this picture will no longer apply to you exactly, but the ranking rarely changes.
- Labour45% (₹12,000)
- Land rent26% (₹7,000)
- Seed9% (₹2,500)
- Fertiliser6% (₹1,500)
- Irrigation6% (₹1,500)
- Interest4% (₹1,000)
- Machinery3% (₹800)
- Pesticide & weedicide2% (₹500)
Official downloads
Government and ICAR documents only — everything below is hosted on an official server.
ICAR-Directorate of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Research
Aloe vera is one of ICAR-DMAPR's mandate crops — the primary research source for cultivation practices and germplasm.
ICAR-CIMAP, Lucknow
Source of the AL-1 aloe vera selection and general medicinal-plant package of practices.
National Medicinal Plants Board
Government body promoting medicinal-plant cultivation, including aloe vera, and a source of information on contract-farming and buyback linkages.
Kisan Call Centre — 1800-180-1551
Free crop advice in your language
Frequently asked questions
Is aloe vera planted from seed like most crops?
No. Aloe vera is propagated from offset suckers — small plantlets that form naturally around the base of a mature mother plant — rather than true seed. A single planting of offsets is then harvested repeatedly for three to five years or more before it needs renewing, which is why this guide treats it more like a perennial crop than a normal annual field crop.
Where in India is aloe vera grown commercially?
Rajasthan's Barmer and Jodhpur belt is a major growing area, alongside real production in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh — generally in warm, dry, well-drained tracts where the crop's drought tolerance and dislike of waterlogging are both well suited to local conditions.
How do I sell my aloe vera crop?
Almost all serious commercial cultivation happens under a buyback or contract-farming arrangement with a cosmetics, pharmaceutical or juice/beverage processor — companies including Patanjali, Dabur, Baidyanath, Emami and Himalaya Wellness are among the major buyers of Indian-grown leaf. Securing a contract or confirmed buyer before planting matters, since there is essentially no organised open mandi trade to fall back on.
Why are there no widely branded aloe vera varieties like other crops have?
India's aloe vera cultivation is built mostly around a small number of NBPGR-registered germplasm accessions selected for high aloin or high gel content, such as IC 111271, rather than marketed, named cultivars the way wheat or rice have. This site represents that thin, accession-based landscape honestly rather than inventing variety names that do not exist — sourcing clean planting material matters more than chasing a specific brand.
Does aloe vera have an MSP or a mandi price?
There is no MSP for aloe vera, and a direct check of the Agmarknet mandi dataset found no genuine trade records under this or any related name. This is consistent with the crop's real market structure: most aloe vera moves through direct contract-farming and buyback arrangements with processing companies rather than through open APMC mandis.
How long does an aloe vera planting keep producing?
A single planting typically stays productive for three to five years or more, with leaves cut every two to three months once the crop is established around 8–12 months after planting. Yield usually peaks in the second to fourth year before declining with plant age, at which point the field is cleared and replanted with fresh offset material.
Still have questions?
The FAQs above cover the common ones. For anything specific to your field and soil, your nearest Krishi Vigyan Kendra is the authoritative answer.