Green Gram / Mung Bean Cultivation

Cultivation of green gram or mung bean is been practiced for a long period of time. Farmers from all around the world cultivate the green gram mostly for consumption and also for export purposes. Green gram can be farmed domestic scale or commercial scale. In most remote area of African countries the crop is mainly grown for domestic consumption. Whereas in countries like  India, Indonesia, the green gram is mainly grown as a commercial cultivation which  contributes to the GDP of the country. 

Mung beans  can be grown either as a single crop (mono-cropping) or as an inter-crop (mixed crop). 

Botanical name of Green gram:  Vigna Radiata Family:  Leguminoseae 
Origin:   India and Central Asia

Green gram is a self-pollinated crop. In north Asian region, it is cultivated in both monsoon seasons and summer seasons and in south Asia it is cultivated in one monsoon season (Rabi). 

Use of Green Gram / Mung Beans

• It can be consumed as whole grains. 
• Preparation of curry or a savory dish (South India).
• Green gram plants increase the nitrogen content of the soil.
• Food for Animals. The husk of the seed can be soaked in water and used as cattle feed.
• Mung beans can be used to produce cereals and supplementary nutrient products.

Health Benefits of  Green Gram / Mung Beans

Green gram is an excellent source of high quality protein (25%) having high digestibility.  Due to its easily digestibility patients prefer eating it for quick recovery. It is also a good source of Vitamin C (Ascorbic acid).    

Mung bean is a highly nutritive grain, rich in proteins and ideal source for starchy or cereal based balanced diet. 

Nutritional content of 100g of raw mung been is shown in the below table.

Nutrient	Composition for 100g of Raw Green Gram / Mung Beans
Water	9.1 g
Energy	1453kJ (347kcal)
Protein	23.8 g
Fat	1.1 g
Carbohydrates	62.6 g
Dietary Fiber	16.3 g
Calcium	132.0 mg
Magnesium	189 mg
Phosphorus	367 mg
Iron Vitamin A, Vitamin B6 Zn Essential Amino acids	6.7 mg

Addition to the Raw mung bean, people eat sprouts of mung beans which contain many other benefits than the nutrients.  It reduces the risk of heart deceases, reduce blood sugar levels and improve the digestion activities. Also low carbohydrate content and the total fat content will help you to eat more mung beans without getting fat. 

Sprouts of Green Gram - Healthy Diet 

Suitable Environmental Conditions for Plantation

Green gram is suitable for regions having an annual rainfall of 600-750mm. It requires a little bit hot and warm climate. Green gram can withstand in any adverse weather conditions, particularly in drought areas with little bit of water. However, It grow properly in moisturized soils. Precautions must be taken to prevent water logging and also plant growth will could be slacked due to cloudy weather are harmful for the crop. As mentioned earlier, it can be grown in all the three seasons in the year.  

Soil

Green gram can be grown on many varieties, from sandy loam to black humus. Alkaline soils with high pH range of more than 8.5 are not suitable for green gram cultivation.  Green gram is very sensitive to water logging conditions, therefore a farmer must ensure proper irrigation system.

Land preparations 

The field should be well leveled and the residue from previous farming season must be removed from the soil. Farmers mostly prepare fields in harsh weather conditions where the sun is at its intense move. Therefore giving two or three ploughing using either local plough or harrow is recommended. Each ploughing/harrowing should be followed by leveling and covering the field with hay or polythene to minimize the loss of moisture by evaporation. 

In Asia, most research reveals that the recommended spacing are 45 cm x 10 cm, and  30 cm x 10 cm. Seeds should also be sown at an estimated depth of  6 mm.

Variety selection

There are several types of mung beans such as traditional ones and scientifically developed mung beans. The traditional mung bean has many drawbacks such as late maturing, long harvesting period, low yield, small seeds and susceptible to several diseases. 

Therefore it is recommended to use scientifically developed varieties which anyone can purchase from relevant institutions in your own country. Normally, good plants mature within 60-65 days and give 1000-1200kg yield per hectare. 

It is recommended to treat seeds before sowing by using any kind of organic or chemical fungicide to prevent diseases. Thiram or Captan 2 to 3 g/kg of seeds is used as common fungicide. 

Green Gram / Mung Bean Cultivation - 2 is coming soon...                        

Green Chili Cultivation - 2

Transplanting

An old traditional way of  chili cultivation was transplanting. Generally chili seeds are grown in pots or nurseries and when they germinate, they are transferred to the fields. This method has lots of advantages, but today most of the commercial chili farmers in the world directly use seed beds in the fields.

Advantages of transplanting

• It guarantees a well-distributed standards of plants
• Reduces seed and thinning costs
• Requires less cultivation effort and irrigation

Harvested Green Chili

Harvesting

Chili plants take relatively less time to mature and make fruits and flowers. However the time depends on variety and the environmental conditions. 

You can harvest the first green chilies once they reach the full size. Or you should wait until they turn red, or whatever colour they are supposed to turn. If you plan to dry them for chili powder or flakes, you can even leave them until they dry.

To harvest fresh chilies kindly cut or pull off the mature fruit while it's still shiny and plump. The chili will last in a sealed bag or in a fridge up to a week.

In order to conserve the chili, you can dry them in a dryer or under direct sunlight and pound them to flakes or put it in the blender to make chili powder.

Varieties of chili

In this present world economic market, we see the many improved varieties of chili. Here is a list of some famous chili varieties across the world.

•          Naga Chilli
•          Mundu Chilli
•          Kanthari Chilli
•          Byadagi Chilli
•          Green Cayenne
•          Red Cayenne
•          Yellow Cayenne
•          Kashmiri Chilli
•          Red Ball
•          Guntur Chilli
•          Bird’s Eye Chilli
•          Dhani
•          Green Ball
•          Birdseye
•          Jalapeno

There may be other varieties of chili which are popular in your respective continent or country, this is because of  the climate and atmosphere conditions.

World market price

Normally in most of the countries fresh chili price go up and down with the weather pattern and some other reasons. however the prices of chili products like, chili powder and chili flakes do not change much. 

Normally dried chili price vary between 1000 - 3500 USD per ton. relatively chili powder price is higher than this and fresh chili even higher. Most of the middle east countries import chili from Asian region and hence there is a good and stable market for all kind of chili products. 

Since chili has less harvesting time, you can recover your investment within a short period by selling your yield. It is advisable to sell free chili or value added chili products like chili source, chili powder, etc to get high return from your investment. you can find many buyers from online platforms like "Alibaba" and "Indiamart". However be careful when you are trading through these online platforms. 


Thank you. Your comments are very important to improve the accuracy of the article 

Green Chili Cultivation

Green chili is one of the top farmed spice that is found as an ingredient in some of the food products like  chili souse, spices, medicines, etc. Green chili is farmed across the world mainly in south and north America, Asia and some Africa regions. Green chili has got a scientific name “Capsicum annuum” and offer nutritional, healthy and also financial benefits. By reading this article you can learn some important factors and procedures one for successful cultivation of green chili. 

The health benefits of chilli

Chillies are one of the most popular spice in Asian countries which contains vitamin B6. Chilli is a rich source of potassium, copper, iron and carbohydrates. So by adding chili to your diet, you can get the following health benefits.

•       Protects cells from damaging due to their strong antioxidant properties.
•          Facilitates respiratory function.
•          Boost the immunity
•          Improves vision
•          Supports digestion.

Healthy Green Chili Field

Land preparation and environmental conditions

Chilies do prefer areas that are warmer and with adequate supply or access to water. The optimal field capacity of moisture content must be 60%. The fields should not lead to water logging because chili plants do not grow well in water logging areas since it may lead to many issues.

Regarding the alkalinity of the soil, it is recommended to maintain the pH scale range between 6-7. Also Optimum temperatures range  for chili cultivation is between 20°C - 27°C. In colder environments where the temperature is below 10°C, there is a tendency of ceasing to grow. Temperatures higher than 30C enhances the crops metabolic reactions and  therefore it may causes  flower abortion.

If the land is too dry, pre-irrigation is needed for the soil in order to form a fine moisturized soil which is important for the plantation and growth. The planting season is throughout the year. Therefore farmers from different regions have their own schedules depending on their weather patterns. Ridging the land is advisable to avoid water logging and normal spacing is 45cm between and for walkways, about 50cm  gaps are maintained.  

Farmers can use drip irrigation system or a sprinkler system to use water in efficient way, specially in dry areas. 

Chili Cultivation in a Coconut State

Fertilisation

Same as other plantations, chili crops need nutrients to healthily grow and produce better yield. Nitrogen compound of 180kg per hectare can adequately provide the solution to plants. Also phosphorus 180kg per hectare and potassium 200kg per  hectare are recommended.

Ammonium nitrate to be applied at the initial stage to germinating plants. Alternately some farmers apply potassium sulphate fertilizer to ensure the plant health and to boost up the flowering of the plants.

Pests, insects and treatment

Chili plants can easily expose to diseases and pests attacks. Therefore it is important to know about different diseases, pests and insects that affect to the chili plantation. 

you can use home made organic insecticides to control insects. however, following table will give an idea on insects and pests that attack to the chili plants and recommended treatments or chemicals for each problem.

Insects /pests	Area of attack	Chemicals/ treatment
Thrips	Causes leaf curling & drooping of premature flowers	Crop rotation, weed control, seed treatment with imidacloprid 70% @ 10 to 15 gm/kg of seeds. Also, give phorate 10% G @ 12 kg/ha to control effectively, Use insecticidal soap
Mealybug	Leaves start falling off, mainly spread due to aphids & thrips	Control Thrips & Aphids.
Aphids	Attack leaves mostly.	Dimethoate, Orthene
Bollworms.	Bores the fruits, causes premature ripening	Dimethoate, Thionex, Orthene
Cutworms	Eat the stems starting from the roots	Orthene, Tamaron, Karate

Green Chili Cultivation 2

Ginger Plantation 2

Fertilization for Ginger  

Ginger consumes high minerals/fertilizers quantities. Requirement of nutrition quantities change with the growth of the plant. Rhizomes absorb high nitrogen and potassium quantities and average quantities of also absorb phosphorus and magnesium.

Nitrogen is required for dividing more rhizomes, therefore nitrogen requirement is high during the beginning period of the growth which is 120-135 days from the planting. Ginger plants consume average 40kg phosphorus per hectare. Always remember to apply phosphorus fertilizers before planting ginger plants. 

Both chemical and organic fertilizers are good for ginger and it is better to use organic fertilizers as much as possible as it is good for healthy yield. If you use organic fertilizers, 20-30 tons per hectare is enough. 

If the pH value is below 5, it is advisable to use dolomite to maintain the pH value. 1-2 tons per hectare is usually enough in this case. please make sure not to mix dolomite and chemical fertilizers together. 

General fertilization schedule per hectare is mentioned below. 

• Before Planting - Super Phosphate 100kg 
• 45 Days after - Potassium chloride 40kg, Urea 80kg
• 90 Days after - Potassium chloride 40kg, Urea 80kg

Pests, Insects, and Treatments

Ginger has less insect and diseases comparing to other cultivations. However there are few insects who can make considerable effect to the plants.

Shoot borer / castor capsule borer

Victim ginger plant of the Shoot borer attack

live in the trunk of the plant and destroy the plant by eating the trunk while living inside. you can see some holes on the trunk when shoot borers exists. Most likely to attack at the beginning of the cultivation when the plants are small. 

It is advisable to identify the affected plants and burn them to control. Use of 0.04% dimethoate will help to control the shoot borer problem. 











Rhizomes Scale Insects

These insects attack during the growth period as well as after harvesting. They silently suck the sap from the rhizomes and rhizomes get shrink and resulting low quality useless yield. 

To prevent the scale insect issue, you can wash the rhizomes with dimethoate mixture when planting and storing the rhizomes after harvesting. 

Harvesting

Eight months after the plantation, ginger leaves start to turn yellow colour and start drying up gradually. This is the clear indication to determine the harvest time.

Most of the time, ginger is manually harvested by simply lifting the clumps with a spade or a fork. The harvested rhizomes are separated from the trunk and thoroughly washed in water twice or thrice to remove mud on the rhizomes. 

When harvesting the water content is around 80% and it is important to dry them until the water content come down to around 15%. otherwise ginger is more likely to affect from fungus and other deceases. you can leave them to dry for a week under the average sunlight. On average the yield quantity per hector is 20-25 tones.

Harvested Ginger Rhizomes

Global Market Price and Profitability 

China is the world’s top ginger exporter while Japan stand on the world top importer of ginger rhizomes. In general condition, it will cost around 2500 - 3200 USD to cultivate ginger rhizomes in one hectare of land including labor charges. 

Ginger rhizome price vary between 0.5 - 2 USD per kg. Assuming 20 tons of harvest per hectare, you can earn average 20000 USD from one hectare per year. Total profit is more than 15000 USD. 

It clearly shows that the ginger plantation is very good commercial business to start and make more profit. 

Aloe Vera Cultivation - 2

Aloe Vera Harvesting

It can take six to eight months for the first harvesting and after that the plants can be harvested further in two months regular intervals. Only mature sticks/bats should be harvested. you can harvest 4 to 6 bats from healthy mature bush. When harvesting the bats, the bats should be removed by using a knife or other appropriate tool if necessary so as not to damage to the parent plant. 

Typically 5,000 kg or more per acre can be harvested annually. It is important to keep in mind that chemical fertilizers should not be used if they are manufactured for export purpose or food purpose.

Matured Aloe Vera Plant - 4-5 Bats can be harvested

Uses of Aloe Vera

Aloe Vera is used to manufacture many products, specially in health and beauty sector. They use aloe vera gel which is stored inside the aloe vera bats for their production and some sell raw aloe vera gel as a beauty product. 

Aloe Vera Gel Inside the bat










Aloe Vera Gel







some of the main trending products in the market are;

• Aloe Vera Drinks
• Aloe Vera Facial Cream
• Aloe Vera Gel
• Aloe Vera Moisturizing Cream

Global Market and Profits

As mentioned in the first article, there is huge global market for aloe vera, but when any business is introduced, the profit will gradually decline as new suppliers arrive to the business. However, It is important to understand that aloe vera cultivation will be good profit making business at least for another 2 years. 

According to current prices, the cost of a plant is less than 0.25 USD. About 6,000 to 7,000 plants are needed per acre. Total cost for an acre will be between 1800 - 2000 USD including labor charges. 

Aloe vera price vary with the time and in general price will be around 0.5 - 2 USD per kilogram. One acre will give approximately 10-15 tons of aloe vera bats per year. That can be sold up to 7500 USD. 

Aloe Vera Cultivation - 1