About Ashwagandha

Ashwagandha is the new gold rush for Indian farmers.

King of Ayurveda is on global wishlist

India is the top producer, exporter of Ashwagandha, with Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan racing ahead, says Ayush. Neemuch is connected to the Czech Republic, Canada, US.

Neemuch, MP: Almost every farmer in Madhya Pradesh’s Amlikheda village has a secure, locked room in the discreet corners of their homes. It’s not the family gold they are guarding. It’s sackfuls of the new global wonder herb ashwagandha.

And the Neemuch district is the epicentre of India’s ashwagandha gold rush.

Badri Lal, 43, has desisted from selling three quintals of ashwagandha roots since March 2023. Every morning, he checks the mandi rates on his smartphone, calls traders to negotiate, goes to his corner room, taps to check on the huge sacks of produce, and, with an air of confidence, gets back to bargaining with traders again.

There was even an ashwagandha heist in Neemuch last year. Twenty quintals of the herb, stored in a trader’s godown, were stolen. Headlines announcing “11 arrested for stealing Ashwagandha worth Rs 12 lakh; 4 accused still on the run,” spread in the villages.

“I won’t sell the crop produce till the right price is pitched,” said Lal with conviction.

In the Neemuch district, a new mini-green revolution has taken root since the Covid-19 pandemic spooked the world and immunity boosters became a buzzword in India and abroad.

Since the pandemic started, about a thousand farmers here have moved away from their traditional soybean and garlic crops and switched to ashwagandha. Many cashed in.

From Organic India to Himalaya to Natural Remedies, there is a race between brands to acquire more ashwagandha. Even Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali used the herb procured from Neemuch mandi for Coronil.

The lure of the crop is such that the Neemuch farmers started selling 1 kg of ashwagandha for Rs 500-600, well above the earlier going rate of Rs 100-150.

Expensive cars like Scorpios, Thars, and Hyundai i20s line the roads, and many farmers live in spacious two-storey bungalows with big courtyards and enclosures for cattle.

Called “Indian ginseng” across the world, ashwagandha from Neemuch mandi has reached markets in the Czech Republic, Canada, and the United States. It is the new king of Ayurveda.

India is the top producer and exporter of the herb, with Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan leading the way, say officials at the Ayush ministry.

The markets, domestic and international, have been hungry for ashwagandha, used in Ayurvedic formulations to strengthen immunity, reduce stress, and increase stamina. Sales in the US alone spiked by 225 per cent in 2021 from the previous year, reaching $92 million dollars in 2021, the ministry has reported. From being 34th on the chart of top-selling herbs in the US in 2018, ashwagandha jumped to number 7 during Covid in 2021.

There is a lot of demand in the American market for the crop. Our prime market is in the US.

– Samrath Patidar, Organic India area manager

Now, official energy is being pumped into getting Neemuch ashwagandha a GI (geographical indication) tag. It’s exciting news for growers, as it will help them reach more international customers and get better prices.

“Ashwagandha is a miraculous crop for us. It has made farmers not only financially stable but allowed us to experiment with other crops and move away from traditional farming,” said Narendra Patidar from Janakpur village in Neemuch district’s Jawad block.