Roselle Farming In Thailand

[importford]

Are there members of the forum that have experience in farming Roselle ( Hibiscus Sabdariffa L.) in Thailand?

I did some internet research and it seems that Thailand is one of the biggest producers and exporters.

I have by accident some wild plants on my property and started some research.

this is really an incredible and versatile plant.

Do some members of the forum cultivate it????

[Petey]

I planted two roselle seedlings back in March, each was about 18 inches high. One plant died but within 6 months the other plant grew into a huge bush about 2 meters high and 2 meters wide with many seed pods. We are waiting for them to split open before we harvest them. We did not lavish any attention on the plant apart from watering it through March and April until the rains started. The leaves are falling off now and I'm told that the plant will die back. We will collect some of the seeds and sow them in a few months, then transplant the seedlings. It appears to be remarkably easy to cultivate and the plants are attractive and prolific. The hibiscus flowers it displays are gorgeous.

It wasn't until I looked it up on wikipedia that I realised that I was well-acquainted with roselle from my time in Sudan and Egypt 20 years ago where it is a common refreshing drink served everywhere which they call 'kerkaday'. It seems to be cultivated on nearly every continent.

[ericthai]

Hey guys, yes there is a big industry in Thailand. Actually we contract with farmer to grow for us. We process the core and bast and export. If you are interested in growing we can supply seeds and will purchase your crop. It does depend on where you are located and the amount of land you have. If interested PM me.

[Maizefarmer]

I know of a couple of ex-pats (Dutch or German)up around Chang rai who are very very successful flower farmers - air-freighting a couple tons each week to Europe from Thailand.

They cultivate in hot houses - actaully plastic covered tunnels, and while the flower type you mention is not there only product type, it is one of the top 3 types.

I drew the public company records about 3years ago - just out of interest to get an idea how successful this operation was versus cultivation of flowers that was not undertaken in plastic tunnels.

Covered cultivation of veggies has always tempted me, but other than for 2 small non-commercial type plastic covered greenhouses I have and use from time to time (mainly for canteloupe) I can assure you that if the production figures for canteloupe cultivated in greenhouses, versus canteloupe cultivated on plastic covered ridges in open fields is anything to go by, then you can be certain that using them for flowers has to be the way to go.

The difference in these accounts was substantial: I will have to dig them out again after Christmas if you want the low down detail, but off the top of my head,, after working out as best I could the respective "inputs/outputs", difference in land area used, growing time, and as many of the other costs I could include with a reasonable degree of accuracy (based on my limited experieance using similar greenhouses to grow canteloupes, even if I included a large degree of inaccuracy in the final calculation (and there surely was inaccuracy/ies), I came up with a figure that was something like 350% - 500% more productive and efficent in the case of these guys and their flower growing, versus open field cultivation.

It is an enormous difference.

So - can it be done: yes, it can, and using greenhouses has to be the way to go. While setting up and constructing greenhouses is not cheap, they are not techncially difficult to design and/or construct. The 2 small grennhouses I have built cost me less than a 1/3rd what they would have cost if I had contracted one of the commercial co's to undertake it for me. All the materials are avaliable locally,and other than for good quality plastic covering which depending on type and size you may have to import,nothing else will carries any CIF duty. All pump and irrigation fittings are avalible, and even the large panel type heat exchanges found at each end of most greenhouses (used for humidity and temp control) can be constructed from local materials.

Something else to give consideration to cultivating, allbei in much smaller numbers they will benefit greatly from cultivation in greenhouses: orchids - big potential earnings from orchids.

[ericthai]

Mostly in Thialand Roselle is being grown for the bast (skin of the plant) and not the flower. Actually our company uses 100% of the plant, meaning we use the bast, the core and the leaves. Each one we have developed a commercial product for and is processed.

We deal in several tons per crop one Rai usually provide 1 ton. where we pay anywhere from 600 - 1000 baht per ton depending on how close or far from our processing plant you are. We are hoping to expand and have more processing plants around Thailand in the 5 yrs and encourage more growing. What is nice about this plant it is more or less a weed and grows without any help. Plant it maybe a little fertilizer and that is it, 5 or 6 months later ready for cutting. We are now talking to farmers to grow this in between rice crops. This plant requires very little water.

[slapout]

The price offered by your company for 1 rai of production is less than the going market for someone to lease the land for a single crop, specifically, potatoes, peanuts etc. Just my oberservation for the value of product which is being produced on good farmland with a 3 crop potential/year.

[ericthai]

Dont know we are buying over 1000 tons per year from farmers for this price and we leased some land for growing from anywhere between 300 up to 700 baht per rai, we can get two crops in a year. most of the farmers are growing this in between their rice crop. If they plant correctly with even spacing between plants and using our seeds the yield is double and we are looking at another variety that should offer 3 tons per rai. We are bringing in an agriculture specialist this year for this plant to review everything to see what else can be done to increase yields, as we want to help the farmers get the biggest yield possible, of course this is to our benefit too.

I have no idea about other markets (peanuts, potatoes) only know Roselle / Kenaf market and we are actually paying more than other places. I know each year we have more and more farmers coming to us to sell.

What area are you talking? The areas we are currently working in is Sisaket, Surin, Roi et.

Thanks for the info that is interesting

[slapout]

The area I refer to is 150 kilometer north of Chiang Mai. After the rice harvest (November) the fellows come in and lease the land to plant potatoes for 900 to 1000 baht a rai. This a 3+ crop per year area with water available year round. If you can lease land for 300 to 700 baht per year you and your company have a tremendous deal. The land owners must dislike farming and have a paying job as 1 rice crop will normally give more profit per rai than this.

[ericthai]

Understood. Yes the land we lease has no water access and not suited for growing rice. roselle is much like a weed and grows easily otherwise the land would be no good for growing any other type of crops. This is the reason we get such a good price.

The framers that are growing roselle usually sell just the bast (skin of the plant) to buyers for about 2-3 baht per kilo sometime a little higher depending on the current market. However this is after the roselle has been retted which is being placed in water for 2-3 weeks and then pulled out remove the skin of the plant dry it and then bale it. one rai will give them about 100-150kg of bast so for what we pay they are happy as they get more money and don't have all the work to do. Usually during the harvest time we have more coming in than what we have cash to purchase and have to turn farmers away, some opt to leave us their crop and pay them within 3-4 weeks. We just get bombarded anywhere from 100 to 300 tons per day. However after the harvest season that is it we have nothing coming in. We have some small plots of land leased and harvest that 3-4 months after the normal harvest season. We want to try and get things in place to have farmers stager the growing so we can have corps coming in every month, but as I said most of the farmers are growing rice and they do this in between crops so it difficult. We are looking to expand to some other parts of Thailand to try and get crops all year round, but this is still 3-4 rs from now, depending on capital avaiable for growth.

900 or 1000 baht per rai per year would still be workable for us, so we might want to check out your area in the next few years.

Are you involved in faming or just a hobby?

[finner]

It's kind of funny that here in the Surin area where they couldn't harvest the rice because of flooding this year, there will not be enough water to plant a second crop. Some people are giving it a try this month though.

Ericthai, just looking at the attached photo from Wikipedia, it looks like the soil is sandy and similar to whats in your area so the roselle would seem to be an growable crop there. Where's your warehouse located?

[ericthai]

If you read my posts I said the roselle does not need much water to grow and stated the land we are growing on has no water access. However we are mostly buying from farmers that already grow roselle from Si Saket, Surin roi et areas.

I dont understand what you are asking about water as I never said anything about needing water.

What is the point you are trying to make?

We have a small depot in Si Saket area and looking at a larger factory in Surin area.

[finner]

I dont understand what you are asking about water as I never said anything about needing water.

What is the point you are trying to make?

Sorry about that, the point was obvious to me in my own confused mind, that the area we live in, Surin province, is ideal for growing roselle because of the requirements you allude to and the conditions seen in the photograph.........

Edited December 24, 2009 by finner

[ericthai]

I understand that, and I already have stated that we do buy roselle from farmers in Surin also from Si saket and Roi et.

What we are looking to do is expand to other places in Thailand so we can get rosselle more than one time a year.

Not sure if you reviewed all the posts, "slapout" was stating we pay less for rosselle than what the land can be leased for, however he was talking about prime farm land in Chang mai area and I told him we are in Si Saket, Surin area and the land we lease is between 300-700 baht per rai per year, but the land we lease is not really suited for growing any standard crops, but can grow rosselle so this is the reason we can lease the land for such a low cost. Hope this clears things up.

[teletiger]

We love roselle. (rosella) We grow it as an annual. Sow seeds in pots in June, plant out late July and basically....get out of the way. It will begin to flower after the rains stop. (mid- November)

1000 Baht per ton is a great price........for Eric. The reason I started to grow it myself was the cost. Dried buds will cost you a minimum of 200 Baht per kilo.(retail) Going up to 400 Baht getting into Bangkok. Anything up to 250 kilo per Rai is possible.

Very labour intensive to produce the dried skins....think rose-hips. As a juice it's almost addictive, packing the same vitamin punch as berries.

As with anything in Thailand.......finding a market is the hard part. We grow it just for ourselves.

Regards.

[ericthai]

Hey teletiger,

Yes its great to grow, so easy. We do have a good market but it's all export. You are correct to process is very labor intense however we are developing automated equipment, not exactly perfected just yet. Where are you located? We can supply seeds and would be interested in buying from you if not too far away. I'm sure you already harvested your crop this season, but we can talk about next years crop. PM me.

[teletiger]

Not quite sure you grasped the full flavour of my post there Eric. Let me clarify. For 1000 Baht a ton, you can kiss my arse.

All clear now?

Regards.

[ericthai]

Ok.. understood,

You do understand we offer that price for just cut kenaf no processing, So green wet weight and we want the whole plant, leaves an all. After drying you loose about 1/2 the weight and then the bast is about a 1/3 of that. So I think our price is fair, we are paying better than what Phoenix paper paid which was around 500-700 baht per green ton.

I know in Sisaket we have loads of it coming in during November-December, i guess the thai's are too lazy to process for the bast and prefer to sell us the whole plant and get a little less cash, but much less work.

[ericthai]

I just re-read your 1st post, you are saying you can get 250 kilo of buds from 1 rai and you sell these buds for 250 baht per kilo?

I'm not a agriculture guy so please excuse my ignorance in this, but when you say bud you are referring to the flower that is produced?

wow, that is really high, so what to you do with the rest of the plant, leaves, bast (skin) and core? We would be interested in this.

We process the bast, leaves and core into commercial products but we sell this nowhere close to that type of sale price even after we process we are selling for 45 baht per kilo for the core about the same for the bast. we are still developing the leaves into a feed meal. I do hope we are talking about the same plant which is this related to Kenaf also know as jute and is in the Hibiscus family.

[teletiger]

Hmmmm. New glasses needed there Eric. Never said I sold them. Grown for my own consumption. I boil up the fruit skins for the juice. The juice is fairly tart, but when mixed with a touch of wild honey........superb.

In my local town, Pak Chong, the dry fruit skins are sold for 200+ Baht per kilo. In Bangkok they go for anything up to 400 Baht per kilo.

This is a retail price Eric. As far as I know they are only sold in specialist shops.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roselle_(plant)

According to the above, 1.28 tons of fresh fruit per Rai is possible!

Regards.