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 several years from the same field before the planting is renewed (we found no trial that fixes how many) — 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. 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. We found no formally released aloe vera variety in India. The IC numbers you hear are ICAR-NBPGR gene-bank accession numbers, and six have trial results: IC 310618, IC 310623 and IC 310619 at ICAR-DMAPR, Boriavi, Gujarat, IC 111280 and IC 471889 at Ranichauri in the Uttarakhand mid hills, and IC 112531 for leaf rot at Kumarganj. Treat them as candidates for a small trial block, not as proven varieties. Sourcing disease-free offset material from a known nursery or the contracting company, and asking for the source in writing, matters more than chasing a 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
- 6–7 months after planting (TNAU); the same plants keep giving leaves for years
- 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
- TNAU: about 15 t/ha of leaf on average; station trials with vermicompost recorded 36–83 t/ha
- 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 several years 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 thin. Indian aloe vera cultivation uses a small number of ICAR-NBPGR gene-bank accessions (the IC numbers) rather than a shelf of named, released cultivars, and we found no formally released variety. Six accessions have trial results. At ICAR-DMAPR, Boriavi, Gujarat, IC 310618 gave the most fresh gel of 26 accessions (93.55 t/ha), IC 310619 and IC 310623 were close behind, and IC 310623 had the most aloin (27.07%). At Ranichauri in the Uttarakhand mid hills, IC 111280 and IC 471889 gave 58.8% and 57.9% more gel than the trial average. At Kumarganj, IC 111280 and IC 112531 were among three accessions rated highly resistant to leaf rot, though IC 112531 gave only 45.30 t/ha of gel at Boriavi. Each result is from one site, so use them to pick plants for a trial block. What matters most for a new farmer is clean, disease-free offset material from a known nursery or the contracting company, with the source written down.
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 6–7
First harvest
TNAU puts the first harvest 6 to 7 months after planting, once plants carry a full rosette of mature leaves and the outer leaves can be cut — considerably faster to first harvest than any of the perennial fruit trees on this site.
- Year 1 onward
Repeated leaf harvest
Mature outer leaves are cut every 2–3 months across the growing season for as long as the planting stays productive (we found no trial that fixes the number of 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.
- Later years
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
- Andaman and Nicobar Islands
- Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu
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 ICAR-NBPGR gene-bank accession with both a gel result and a leaf rot rating. At Ranichauri, Uttarakhand, it gave 58.8% more gel than the mean of 15 genotypes, and at Kumarganj, Faizabad, it was one of three rated highly resistant to leaf rot out of 26. Both results are from one site each. | First harvest 6–7 months after planting (TNAU, aloe in general) | 58.8% more gel than the mean of 15 genotypes at Ranichauri; no kg/ha figure found | Rated highly resistant to leaf rot in a 26-genotype field screening | Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh | A trial block where you want evidence behind the planting material |
An ICAR-NBPGR gene-bank accession. At ICAR-DMAPR, Boriavi, Gujarat, it gave the heaviest leaf, the highest leaf yield and the most fresh gel of 26 accessions, though its lead over IC 310623 and IC 310619 is within the trial margin. It was moderately resistant to leaf rot at Kumarganj. | Plants cut at about 18 months in the trial; TNAU gives the first harvest at 6–7 months | 93.55 t/ha fresh gel (trial average 62.74), worked out for 60 × 45 cm spacing | Moderately resistant to leaf rot at Kumarganj | Gujarat (trial site) | A trial block where the buyer pays by the weight of leaf or gel |
An ICAR-NBPGR gene-bank accession. At Boriavi it had the highest aloin content (27.07%) and aloin yield (74.80 kg/ha) of 26 accessions, with fresh gel close to the best. We found no leaf rot score for it. Aloin is worth chasing only if a buyer pays for the dried yellow sap. | Plants cut at about 18 months in the trial; TNAU gives the first harvest at 6–7 months | 91.07 t/ha fresh gel (trial average 62.74), worked out for 60 × 45 cm spacing | No leaf rot score found | Gujarat (trial site) | A trial block where the buyer also pays for the dried yellow sap (aloin) |
An ICAR-NBPGR gene-bank accession. At Boriavi it gave 90.20 t/ha of fresh gel, third of 26 accessions and too close to the leader to separate, with the second heaviest leaf and 8.09 suckers a plant, more than IC 310618. We found no leaf rot score for it. | Plants cut at about 18 months in the trial; TNAU gives the first harvest at 6–7 months | 90.20 t/ha fresh gel (trial average 62.74), worked out for 60 × 45 cm spacing | No leaf rot score found | Gujarat (trial site) | A trial block where you sell gel and want plenty of suckers to multiply from |
An ICAR-NBPGR gene-bank accession rated highly resistant to leaf rot at Kumarganj, but below the trial average for gel and leaf yield at Boriavi (45.30 t/ha of gel against 62.74). A hedge for land with leaf rot, at the cost of some yield. | Plants cut at about 18 months in the trial; TNAU gives the first harvest at 6–7 months | 45.30 t/ha fresh gel (trial average 62.74), worked out for 60 × 45 cm spacing | Rated highly resistant to leaf rot in a 26-genotype field screening | Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat (trial sites) | Land where leaf rot is already a problem and you accept a lower yield |
An ICAR-NBPGR gene-bank accession that gave 57.9% more gel than the mean of 15 genotypes at Ranichauri, just behind IC 111280. We could read only the abstract, which gives no kg/ha figure and no leaf rot score. | First harvest 6–7 months after planting (TNAU, aloe in general) | 57.9% more gel than the mean of 15 genotypes at Ranichauri; no kg/ha figure found | No leaf rot score found | Uttarakhand (mid hills) | A trial block in the Uttarakhand mid hills beside IC 111280 |
- Seed rate
- Not a seed crop — planting material is offset suckers, not seed: TNAU gives 10,000 suckers per hectare at 90 × 90 cm. Dip the suckers in 0.1% carbendazim for 5 minutes before planting.
- 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. ICAR-DMAPR, Boriavi, Anand, Gujarat sells aloe vera suckers (Rs 5 each, Rs 3 each above 500, price list dated 9 May 2024); its list names no accession, so ask which one before you buy.
- Spacing
- 90 × 90 cm on prepared beds, giving 10,000 plants per hectare (TNAU).
- 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 several years, 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
TNAU puts the first harvest 6 to 7 months after planting. Cut the mature outer leaves, leave the crown and younger leaves to keep growing, and start gel extraction within 6 hours of cutting.
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
TNAU gives an average leaf yield of 15 t/ha. A Hisar organic trial with vermicompost at 7.5 t/ha recorded 36,667 and 83,117 kg/ha of leaf in two years, so yields vary a great deal with accession, soil, water and management.
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
Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants: medicinal-plant package of practices and advice.
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 several years 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 — the leaf has no open-market price, so the buyer matters more than for most crops. 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?
Indian aloe vera is grown mostly from ICAR-NBPGR gene-bank accessions (the IC numbers), not from named cultivars released after trials the way wheat or rice are, and we found no formally released variety. Six accessions have trial results: IC 310618, IC 310623 and IC 310619 at Boriavi, Gujarat, IC 111280 and IC 471889 at Ranichauri, Uttarakhand, and IC 112531 for leaf rot at Kumarganj. Each is one site, so test 20 suckers before planting a block. Clean planting material with a written source matters more than any name.
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?
Aloe is planted from suckers and TNAU puts the first harvest 6 to 7 months after planting. Many growers keep cutting the same plants for several years, then clear the field and replant from fresh, healthy suckers. We found no trial that fixes the number of productive years, so keep your own record of leaf weight at each cut and replant when it falls.
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.