Turmeric is a very important crop among different horticultural crops. Turmeric has many important aspects for the cosmetic industry and medicinal industry. In Pakistan, 70-75% of turmeric is produced in the district Kasur. Majorly it is being grown in Punjab. Turmeric crop can provide you the income from 3-8 Lakhs. In this article, I will discuss each aspect from growing to the end of marketing. This article will be discussed under the following outlines,
- Seed selection
- Planting season
- Land preparation
- Fertilizer and irrigation
- Plant protection
- Harvesting
- Yield and profit
- Marketing
Selection of seed and planting season
For the selection of its seed or scientifically called as a rhizome, it is very important that seed weight is very important. Seed weight with 30g to 50g is preferable by different experienced growers. 50g weight of an individual is the ideal weight that produces more rhizome, for 50g of seed weight, about 1600 kg of seeds is required per acre. For 30g of seed weight, 1200-1300 kg of seeds will be required. It is suggested that try to purchase the 50g of ideas weight of rhizome seed, it will be more promising for best production. After purchasing the seed keep covered until the month of March starts and it is growing season in Pakistan.
Land preparation
Land preparation is a very important step for turmeric, it needs fertile land. Loamy and sandy loam soil is best suitable for this purpose. It is suggested that before the plantation field should be fed with well-rotten farmyard manure and dissolve until the turmeric planting season starts. It is also suggested by the different experienced growers that 2 bags of DAP and 1 bag of Potash should also include during land preparation. The line to line distance should be 50cm and plant to plant distance should be 25cm, by this cropping pattern 30-32 thousand plants can be grown within an acre.
Fertilizer and irrigation
As it is mentioned above that turmeric needs more fertile land, turmeric needs more irrigation during the summer season. It is suggested that irrigation should be kept weekly during the summer season. At each irrigation half bag of urea should be applied.
Plant protection
Just like ginger, turmeric does not have any insect, pest, or disease issues, but the turmeric field faces the weeds challenge. Turmeric crop needs plenty of water due to which a greater number of weeds starts growing. These weeds grew more profusely in such a condition that actual crops cannot be observed easily. Manually hoeing is a more difficult task because underground rhizomes can be damaged. For this purpose, it is suggested that take the 400-500 numbers of plastic baskets and cover them with actual crops and do a roundup spray and it will kill every green foliage crop that is uncovered. By doing this growers can easily control the weeds in the turmeric field, in this way competition will be lower down for food and water.
Harvesting of turmeric
Commonly, harvesting of turmeric is done by manual with laborers, which is more expensive and time-consuming, there is also a lot of chances of damaging turmeric during the harvesting. It is suggested that a ground digger or turmeric harvester should be used in this way an expensive labor cast will be minimized and there are no chances of turmeric damage.
Yield and profit
Generally, turmeric yields range from 16-18 thousand kg per acre. Now, there are three options for the grower and farmer to sell the turmeric,
- Fresh sale in the market
- Sales after drying
- Sales after grinding
Turmeric marketing in Pakistan
Fresh sale in the market
For this purpose, there are 800-900 rupees price per 40 kg in the market. If production was 400 monds then income for fresh sale will be 3-3.5 lakh.
Sale after drying
If a farmer is willing to sell the turmeric after drying, for this purpose turmeric is first boiled for about 15 minutes and then spread it out on the floor on land for sundry purposes. After 4-5 days of sun-drying, it is cleansing to remove the dirt. Good-looking turmeric will be preferable in the market. These dried turmeric rates will be higher in the market than fresh turmeric. Its rates per mond are 5500 to 5600 rupees. It is also important that after drying, 75% of weight loss occurs due to water removal. If your crop was 400 monds at fresh harvesting time, then after drying it will remain 100 monds, for 100 monds of turmeric with the above-mentioned rates for dried turmeric, profit will be 560,000 rupees in Pakistan.
Sale after grinding
For grinding purposes, after drying and cleaning the turmeric it is taken at the flour grinding machinery. After grinding it looks like a pure organic product, now its price per mond will be about 8000 rupees. For 100 monds of grinding turmeric, its price will be 800000 rupees.
Conclusion
- Turmeric is a highly demanding crop.
- In Pakistan, Kasur is a major district for producing turmeric.
- Seed (rhizome) with 50g of weight is ideal for turmeric and it is suggested by different experienced growers.
- March is planting season of turmeric in Pakistan.
- Turmeric is about 7-8 months of lifespan crop.
- Turmeric needs fertile land. It is suggested that spread out the well-rotten farmyard manure before plantation.
- For making compost, it is suggested that collect the remaining of previous crop (leaves) and mix with cow dung and sundry and used its mixture as a compost. This fertilizer will deals more efficiently for making the land fertile.
- It is suggested that choose a separate area for making compost.
- Turmeric crop is almost free of pest and diseases, but weeding is a real challenge.
- Sometimes, weeds grow higher in height than the actual crops, so spray with roundup spray by covering the actual crop.
- Turmeric needs weekly irrigation during the summer season with a half a bag of Urea at each irrigation.
- Turmeric harvesting is done manually, but a ground harvester can be used for digging the turmeric safely.
- Turmeric is sold in the market as a fresh, dried as well as grinding.
- As fresh turmeric, grower income would be 3-3.5 lakh.
- Income after selling the dried turmeric would be 5-5.5 lakh.
- Grounded turmeric rates are higher than fresh and dried. Its income would be up to 8-9 lakh.
I hope this article will help you a lot. Comment out your thoughts below. Stay tuned!