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Medicinal Crop/Stevia

Introduction

Stevia isa genus of about 240 species of herbs and s

hrubs in the sunflower family (Asteraceae), native

to subtropical and tropical regions from western North

America to South America. The species Stevia rebaudiana,

commonly known as sweetleaf, sweet leaf, sugarleaf, or 

simply stevia, is widely grown for its sweet leaves.

As a sweetener and sugar substitute, stevia’s taste has a

slower onset and longer duration than that of sugar, andsome of its extracts may have a bitter or licorice-

like aftertaste at high concentrations.

With its steviol glycoside extracts having up to 300 times

the sweetness of sugar, stevia has attracted attention with

the rise in demand for low-carbohydrate, low-sugar 

sweeteners. Because stevia has a negligible effect on blood

glucose it is attractive to people on carbohydrate-controlled

diets.

Stevia extract is 300 times sweeter than sugar. A food

 producer that normally uses 30 000 kg sugar can use 100 kg

stevia in a food application and get the same sweetening power in the product. This has a significant impact on the

emissions of transport of the goods as the volumes

transported are far less using stevia.

Production of Stevia

The plant is native to tropical and subtropical regions of 

 North America and South America. There are near about 240

species of Stevia Genus. It is grown widely in countries like

Brazil, Colombia, Paraguay and Venezuela. In Venezuela it is

 being used over 1500 years.

In the early 1970s, sweeteners such

as cyclamate and saccharin were suspected of 

 being carcinogens. Consequently, Japan began cultivatingstevia as an alternative. The plant’s leaves, as well as the

aqueous extract of the leaves and purified steviosides, were

developed as sweeteners.

The first commercial stevia sweetener in Japan was produced

 by the Japanese firm Morita Kagaku Kogyo Co., Ltd. in 1971.

The Japanese have been using stevia in food products

and soft drinks, (including Coca Cola), and for table use.

Japan currently consumes more stevia than any other 

country, with stevia accounting for 40% of the sweetener 

market.

Today, stevia is cultivated and used to sweeten food

elsewhere in East Asia including China (since 1984), Korea,Taiwan, Thailand, and Malaysia. It can also be found in Saint

Kitts and Nevis, Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Paraguay, Uruguay,

and Israel. China is the world’s largest exporter of stevioside.

China, the largest stevia sweetener production base and

supplier in the world, has witnessed significant development

within the industry in the past three years, reflected by the

increasing output to 3,096 tonnes in 2009 from 2,073 tonnes

in 2007 and 80% of the total exported.

Worldwide, more than 100000 hectares are reported to be

covered under Stevia cultivation of which china has a major 

chunk.Paraguayan farmers have cultivated more than 2,200 hectares

of stevia plants. Other countries in the region such as

Argentina, Ecuador and Colombia are directing their energies

towards large scale production of stevia.

Stevia cultivation is increasing in other parts of the world,

including Argentina, Brazil, Columbia, India, and Vietnam.

Since stevia is intensely sweet, it typically requires only a

fifth of the land and much less water to provide the same

amount of sweetness as other mainstream sweeteners like

sugar.

For example in Kenya, stevia is typically grown only on a

third of the land, with the rest of the land being devoted toother crops, maintaining agricultural diversity and

diversification of farmers income, an important component

of sustainability and healthy ecosystems.

Assessment of all aspects of medicinal plant markets is

difficult to achieve with any degree of certainty at a global

level. An assessment at an individual market level is easier,

 but still not straightforward.

Difficulties arise from the wide diversity of plants that are

involved, limited availability of data, inaccuracy of any data

that are available and the fact that not all medicinal plant

material ends up in medicinal or health uses.

At the production level an unknown proportion of the materialgathered may be used by the gatherers or traded informally

or bartered.

This is especially true in developing countries.

According to the study carried out by Kuipers for FAO, there

are two sources of supply of medicinal plants: i) material

collected from the wild; and ii) cultivated material.

Wild harvesting

Wild harvesting is the collection of plant material from wild

sources. This material can take many forms, such as the bark,

leaves, fruits, herbs, flowers, wood or roots.

It may be collected from many locations, including open pasture, waste agricultural land, gardens, the roadside or 

forest land. In some cases the plants may be “weeds” found

in agricultural or waste land; in others they may be plants or 

Sweetener and sugar substitute Medicinal plant China is the largest producer

and exporter of stevia in the world. Around 80% of the production

is export oriented. The major export markets for China’s stevia rebaudiana extracts include Malaysia, Mexico, the

U.S.A., Japan and Hong Kong, China. In recent years, Malaysia becomes the major export market 

 for China’s stevia rebaudiana extracts with over half of the export shares. Stevia products saw a27% increase in worldwide volume sales in 2010 over 2009, taking its overall market value to

US$285 million. From mid-2009 to mid-2010, new product launches using stevia extracts

increased by 200%, with products launched in 35 countries – 237 new products.

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 parts of plants found in horticultural areas or in forest land.

The bulk of the material traded (both domestically and

internationally) is still wild harvested and only a very small

number of species are cultivated.

It is difficult to provide accurate global data on the volume

of wild harvested medicinal plants as it is very difficult to

distinguish between wild and cultivated material. Althoughdata can be indicated for some specific cases, there is very

little actual global data on the volume of wild harvested

medicinal plants.

Herbal raw material is often either collected by wage

labourers (often from outside the state) or farmers with small

landholdings.

Cultivation of herbal raw material is rare: in Bangladesh, for 

example, more than 90 percent of the collection of medicinal

 plants is from the wild. Illegal and unscientific collection is

common.

Although the major part of wild harvested material is sourced

from developing countries, a surprisingly high amount isalso gathered in developed countries.

Most countries have few or no regulations which control

the collection of material from the wild. India, Bulgaria and

 Nepal are notable exceptions.

India has banned the export of several wild species in their 

raw material form, although the export of finished products

containing the material is allowed.

A major part of the high range Himalayan plants are wild

harvested and many of these are close to extinction from

over-harvesting or unskillful harvesting: Nardostachys

 jatamansi, Aconitum spp., for example.

Cultivated material

Cultivated material is more suitable for large scale uses, such

as the production of drugs by pharmaceutical companies,

which require standardized products of guaranteed or known

content and quality.

These quality requirements are becoming increasingly

important as drug regulations become more stringent in

many countries.

 Argentina, China, Hungary, India, Poland and Spain are

examples of countries that cultivate some materials on a

large scale.

Requirements of successful commercial cultivation

operations are to produce high quality drugs using low input

cultivation methods while recognizing that the material has

to compete on a highly competitive international market.

Trade of Stevia

China is the largest producer and exporter of stevia in the

world. Around 80% of the production is export oriented.

The major export markets for China’s stevia rebaudiana

extracts include Malaysia, Mexico, the U.S.A., Japan and

Hong Kong, China. In recent years, Malaysia becomes the

major export market for China’s stevia rebaudiana extracts

with over half of the export shares.

However, Malaysia is not the ultimate consumer market of stevia rebaudiana extracts, but a transit base. The major 

import company is PureCircle, the branch of an American

company in Malaysia, which mainly imports stevia

rebaudiana extracts from China and then sells them to other 

regions in the world.

Due to strong demand for stevia rebaudiana extracts in the

world market and approval of stevia rebaudiana extracts in

various countries and regions, it is predicted that China’s

export volume of stevia rebaudiana extracts will continue

increasing rapidly in the next few years.

Food consultancy Zenith International reports that stevia

 products saw a 27% increase in worldwide volume sales in

2010 over 2009, taking its overall market value to US$285

million. From mid-2009 to mid-2010, new product launches

using stevia extracts increased by 200%, with products

launched in 35 countries – 237 new products in the first half 

of 2010 alone, according to market research firm Mintel’s

Global New Product Database (GNPD).

Mintel values the natural sweetener product market at US

$763 million in 2010, with the stevia market alone at $670

million.

A leading stevia manufacturer has projected that stevia will penetrate 20% to 25% of the US$60 billion global sugar/

sweetener market.

U.K. based Zenith International estimates worldwide sales

of stevia extract reached 3,500 tons in 2010 with an overall

market value of $285 million and is forecasting that the global

market for stevia will reach 11,000 tons by 2014 requiring the

estimated tripling of stevia leaf production at the farm level

to keep pace with consumer demand.

Regulatory approval in the European Union (granted in

 November 2011) has set the stage for stevia use to explode

on the other side of the Atlantic in 2012 and beyond.Asia Pacific, where the ingredient has been used as a

sweetener in some regions for decades, has the largest

market share for stevia at 35.7%, followed by North America

(30%) and South America (24.3%).

Stevia in India

India being largest consumer of cane sugar along with

largest diabetic population in the world. Stevia is ideally

 poised to make significant contribution in satisfying the

Indian demand of natural low calorie sweetener.

In India Stevia Rebaudiana Benom was introduced in

Maharashtra.

In India, it is being cultivated in States such as Karnataka,

Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh

and Chhattisgarh. Its cultivation is at its nascent stage.

REFERENCEhttp://en.wikipedia.org 

http://faostat3.fao.org/faostat-gateway/go/to/home/E 

http://comtrade.un.org/db/dqBasicQuery.aspx 

http://www.traffic.org/medicinal-plants/] 

 ftp://f tp.fao.org/docre p/fao/008/ af285e/ af285e00 .pdf 

http://steviacultivation.blogspot.in/ 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stevia

http://www.realstevia.se/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Sustainability-Report-2012_RS_BW.pdf 

http://www.speroforum.com/a/FICYQYFDTU27/73319-Stevia-indigenous-plant-of-

 Paraguay#.U0KnI_mSyGQ

http://www.steviaworldforum.com/ 

http://stevia.blogspot.in/ 

http://www.steviafirst.com/stevia/stevia-market http://www.stevia.co/opportunity/opportunity-overview

http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/crops/facts/stevia.htm

http://stevia-plant.com/stevia-plant-information

http://www.realstevia.se/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Sustainability-Report-2012_RS_BW.pdf 

http://www.stevia-paraguay.com/plantation-stevia-paraguay.htm

Medicinal Crop/Stevia