Varied Crop Options
The key insight that led
to the founding of Herbz India was the fact that
farmers in India confined
their farming options to a few limited crops which
gave them limited options to hedge their risks.
Herbz India came into existence to provide all
farmers with an access to new opportunities. All
of Herbz India’s other services are essentially
conceived to supplement this primary objective.
The
variety of crop options made available to our
farmers is
something we at Herbz India never compromise upon.
Though during our inception we started
out with just one crop, in the 8 months that followed,
we were able to come forward with close to 20 different
viable crop options for our farmers’ cultivation.
The
services we offer in the cultivation of each
crop differs according to the life of the plant,
yielding period, acreage cultivated, marketing
channels etc. For example, Agarwood (Oodh) takes
a couple of years to start providing returns
which does not require
intensely technical cultivation practices, therefore
we offer only the planting material and not our
consultancy
or marketing services for this crop. On the other
hand, for relatively short term plants like Safed
Musli
and Stevia,
which require highly technical cultivation and
are too new
for the presence of established marketing channels,
we offer all our services from land suitability
checks to buy back agreements.
A brief write up on all the
crops we presently deal in can be viewed at the ‘Crops’ link
in this website. We are also on the constant look
out for more interesting options and have also
incorporated in this website an option to ‘Ask
Herbz India’ for a free research on any new
crop option.
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Free Land Suitability Tests*
The first stumbling block, which renders a farmer
incapable of looking at alternate crop options
in his property is normally his ignorance about
how suitable his land is, to cultivate other
new age crops. Over the years, several areas
in South India has been accepted to be appropriate
for certain specific crops (munnar and niligris
for tea, chikmaglur and coorg for Coffee, parts
of kerala for rubber and so on). This badging
to a great extent has subconsciously drawn a
line with regard to the crop options a farmer
in each of these areas have. Even progressive
farmers who have started looking a new crop options
are kept at bay with apprehensions with regard
to crop suitability in their fields.
Herbz
India offers to visit sites,
analyze soil, topography and
other climatic conditions to determine suitability
of the cultivation of various crops in the specified
land. This suitability test is absolutely
free for all who join in as a contract farmer of
Herbz India.
For its clients, Herbz India avails the service
of state of the art research facilities which do
in-depth analysis on several factors determining
soil suitability like NPK content, ph, conductivity,
micro-nutrient content etc.
To
find out more about the different crops you can
successfully cultivate in your land, Please contact
Herbz India office at Calicut.
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Finance facilitation
The cultivation of new age medicinal and aromatic
crops are generally much more lucrative than the
conventional crops which farmers in South India
have been used to. But in certain cases, this extra
profit comes with a little more asked of the farmer
with respect to the raising of capital. In other
words, a few of the crop options we would be looking
at, would require a larger capital investment,
when compared to most of our conventional crops.
In this context, the raising of finance from banks
and other financial institutions become relevant
and at times inevitable for going ahead with the
cultivation of certain crops. Moreover, several
subsidies announced for the cultivation of these
plants, by bodies like the National Medicinal Plants
Board, Horticultural Boards etc are available only
for projects that have been financed by banks.
Herbz India, with its in-depth study and analysis
on regional crop suitability, cultivation techniques,
farming financials and marketing potential provides
its farmer with all necessary support required
in availing finances from banks.
At the very onset of the project, our contract
farmers are financed on a priority basis by several
leading nationalized banks on the basis of the
minimal risk they are exposed to, in terms of planting
material quality, cultivation techniques and end
product marketing.
Herbz
India’s
project proposals and analysis have been accepted
and
approved by several leading
banks including State Bank of India, State Bank
of Travancore, HDFC and Federal Bank apart from
several other nationalized and co-operative banks.
Over and above the tie-ups with banks for prioritized
approvals, Herbz India also offers to make presentations,
hold discussions and spearhead negotiations with
any new bank based on the customized needs of its
contract farmers.
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Insurance
In anticipation
of the perceived risk with which the farmers
may view this venture Herbz
India, & its partners in the value chain, make
available for the farmer, an option to insure his
crops.
For any farmer looking at the option of venturing
into our unconventional but hugely potential crops,
one of the first mental blocks he would encounter
would be the perceived risk the venture could be
associated with.
Herbz
India is on a constant endeavor to negotiate
with Insurance
companies
in furthering the scope
of insurance and its financials towards its farmer’s
benefit. Companies like ICICI Lombard and The Oriental
Insurance Company have already come forward to
insure the crops of Herbz India’s farmers
at low rates of premium, thus insuring the risk
of crop loss, which is usually the greatest concern
of any farmer.
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Subsidy Support
Identifying the potential in the cultivation of
Medicinal and Aromatic Plants and recognizing the
encouragement the farmers in our country need,
with regard to going about with the cultivation
of these crops, several bodies like the National
Medicinal Plants Board and the State and National
Horticultural Board have come forward with subsidies
for the cultivation of these crops.
On this front, Herbz India helps its clients with
the documentation process required for the application
of subsidies guiding them through the process.
Where the need demands Herbz India also acts as
a liaison between its farmers and the Government
bodies and represents the concerns of its farmers
at all relevant bureaucratic levels.
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Expert Consultancy
Herbz India is backed by a farming
heritage, which is more than a century old. All
the farmers entitled to our consultancy services
stand to gain from the years of experience our
group has in several agricultural ventures.
Down the lines, each technically qualified agricultural
officer of ours, apart from having valuable experience
in the cultivation of our crops, is also specifically
trained with respect to the cultivation practices
of each crop that he is expected to provide consultancy
on.
The regular circulars sent
to our entire contract farming clientele guide
them on all requirements
with regard to fertilizers, pest control, irrigation
and other possible apprehensions and their solutions.
Our field officers regularly visit our farmers’ fields
and provide timely advice at all stages from planting
to harvesting. Our technical officers are always
accessible over phone and our farmers also have
the option to speak to our founder partner and
COO Mr. James Jacob personally whenever the need
arises.
Apart
from highly conversant manpower is blessed with,
several scientists, researchers
and consultants also support us in our quest to
address all technical concerns our farmers are
affected with.
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Marketing Support
Quite
often we come across farmers, who develop very
healthy plants, and also
manage to
get remarkable yields from their crops. These farmers,
having encountered and overcome the risks of crop
loss and poor output are only left with the task
of marketing the output at a good price.
But
more often than not, especially in the case of
most of the unconventional crops which are being
introduced into our midst now, this is where the
farmer reaches a stumbling block in materializing
a deserving profit. This failure can be attributed
to several factors like:
• Lack of
exposure
• Ignorance about the true potential of the output
• Ignorance of the whereabouts of the market
• Lack of existing and established marketing channels
in new crops and
• Lack of ability to negotiate and avail good offers
from buyers
Herbz
India recognized these factors as one of the
key hindrances, which kept our farmers from venturing
into new crops, which may be extremely profitable
but may not have fully established marketing channels.
The task of providing
our clients with the best of marketing services,
assumes a lot of importance
in Herbz India’s operations and we specialize
in finding the best markets / buyers in the world
for our farmer’s products.
Herbz India’s expertise in the industry,
international networking capabilities, economies
of scale and capacity to leverage on its direct
link with farmers and cater to large orders among
other advantages puts it in a position to clinch
the best deals for its clients’ outputs.
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Complete Farm Development & Management
We
considered
it our responsibility to identify a potential
customers needs and to tailor services
to meet the needs. Our complete farm development
and management service is one such initiative.
This offer comes as an opportunity to those of
you - who for several probable reasons varying
from future retirement plans to mere diversification
strategies - would like to invest in farming and
agriculture, but are hurdled by inconveniences
with respect to time, location or lack of experience.
Here, Herbz India offers to use its resources,
expertise and its wide presence to professionally
manage your agricultural properties and nurture
the same with utmost care until such day as when
you would like the property to be handed over back
to you.
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'Ask
Herbz India'
Herbz
India, in its constant endeavor to explore new
opportunities available for farmers, has now
come out with ‘Ask Herbz India’ a
special service aimed at providing farmers with
relevant information on any crop they wish to
know more about. With Ask Herbz India all a farmer
needs to do is type in the common name of any
potential herb they need to learn more about
along with any more information about the crop
that they could offer us. On receiving the request
for research, Herbz India would gather all elementary
details about the crop including the crop history,
uses, commercial potential, cultivation practices
etc. The information would be collected from
sources ranging from associated scientists, botanists,
research centers, universities and the vast amount
of literature we are access to.
We
shall strive to provide the farmer with all basic
details about the crop within 24 hours subject
to the data we are provided with by the enquirer.
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Source
from Us
For
all manufacturers, industrialists, traders and
other buyers of agricultural output Herbz India
provides them an access to a vast variety of
herbal and natural products, India has been blessed
with.
Apart
from the crops presently mentioned in this website,
we also offer to take up further contract farming
activities of any new crop that would be required
to suffice any specific requirement that a buyer
could have.
There
are several factors, which make Herbz India different
from any other trader you could buy agricultural
produce from.
• Herbz
India monitors your products starting from its
origin. We supply only the best quality planting
materials taking into account the active ingredient
content, industrial viability of the output etc.
• The fact that we trade only with products from our farmers helps in maintaining
standardized quality.
• Our farmers cultivate under our consultancy thus and this ensures the
observance of acceptable cultivation practices.
• Our direct links with farmers allow us to provide buyers with agricultural
produce at the most competitive prices.
• Against prior contracts we also offer to set up units to cater to any
requirement for value addition that our buyers could have.
• Our deep-rooted values and our heritage, which we treasure, commit to
ensure all buyers of impeccable and prompt service from our end.
For
any enquiry that you would have regarding the
sourcing of agricultural produce from Herbz India,
kindly e-mail us
or contact our Head
Office.
