Stevia Production under the Egyptian Context

Mr. JAYARAM BALASUBRAMANIAN Stevia International Expert

30th January 2013

NATURAL LOW– CALORIE SWEETENERS

Part One

STEVIA REBAUDIANA

REBAUDIOSIDE- A

NATURAL SWEETENERS

PRODUCT SOURCE INTENSITY

(SUCROSE)

Rebaudioside-A Stevia rebaudiana 250

Glycirrhizin Glycirrhiza glabra 50

Lakanto

(Mogroside)

Momordica grosvenorii 300

Thaumatin Thaumatococcus daniellii 2000

Brazzein Pentadiplandra brazzeana 800

Rugusoside Rubus suasissimus 30

PRODUCT NAME PLANT SOURCE INTENSITY

(SUCROSE)

CURCULIN Curculigo latifolia 550

MABILIN Capparis masaikai 100

MONELIN Dioscoreophyllum cumminsii 3000

PENTADIN Pentadiplandra brazzeana 500

Sweeteners (Proteins)

ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS

PRODUCT NAME BRAND

NAMES

FDA

APPROVAL

INTENSITY

(SUCROSE)

ASPARTAME Nutra sweet, Equal 1981 200

SUCROLASE Splenda 1998 600

SACCHARIN Hermesetas 1958 400

ACESULFAME-K Nutrinova

Ace-k

Sunett TM

1988 200

NEOTAME 2002 4000

CYCLAMATE Sucaryl TM reapproval 30

Rebaudioside- A (Reb-A) The Next Generation of Sweeteners

• Plant indigenous to Paraguay whose leaves have been

used to sweeten food and beverages for over 600 years

• Reb-A has no caloric content, zero carbohydrate and a

low glycemic index, making it suitable for consumption by

diabetics

• Reb-A has a taste profile which is a credible, natural and

healthy alternative to sugar and artificial sweeteners

• Global obesity epidemic

• Rising health care costs

• Consumer attention to diet

• Major food and beverage companies searching for

healthy ingredient alternatives

• Global sweetener market is estimated at $40‐-50

billion

Market Environment

STATUS of STEVIA

• Stevia has been used as sweetener in Japan, China and Korea

• Stevia contributes more than 70% as sweetener in Japan

• The launch of stevia as sweetener faced stiff challenges from various competitors

• JBB Japan, Stevia Canada and Sweet Aloha farms, Hawaii are some of the firms promoting stevia

* In 1995, FDA re approved stevia as a food supplement

• In Dec.2008, Rebiana ( Rebaudioside-A 95%), a product of Cargill and Coca-cola collaboration got GRAS status- as general purpose sweetener for food and drinks, not as just a supplement by FDA.

• 12 countries including Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland etc.

REGULATORY STATUS

• Stevia is a natural sweet herb of Paraguay, commonly known as

sweet leaf or sugar leaf, cultivated mainly in China, Brazil, Japan

• 80 % of the total area is only in China

• Performs better in long- day conditions

• Leaf yield is 5000 kg of dry leaves per ha.

• Stevioside and Rebaudioside – A, as sweetening principles

•Leaves contain 10 -15% of total glycoside, out of which

Rebaudioside –A is 40%

STEVIA REBAUDIANA

Sweetness intensity of Sweeteners (Compared to Sucrose )

SWEETENER INTENSITY

1 SUCROSE 1

2 FRUCTOSE 1.73

3 INERT SUGAR 1.30

4 GLUCOSE 0.74

5 MALTOSE 0.32

6 LACTOSE 0.16

7 SACCHARIN 550

8 ASPARTAME 200

9 ACESULFAME K 200

10 CYCLAMATE 35

11 NEOLICEPERIDIN DIHYDROCALCONE 330

12 THAUMATIN 3500

13 ALCIME 2500

14 NEOCIME 2000

15 STEVIOSIDE 160

16 REBAUDIOSIDE-A 250

17 SUCRALOSE 600

GLOBAL MARKET SCENARIO of STEVIA PRODUCTS

Part Two

• Global sweetener market is estimated at $40‐-50 billion • The qty of Stevia product sales was 3500 tons in the year 2011 and it is expected to over 11000 tons in 2014 • The principle global promoters are Pure Circle and GLG and are contract growers processors for coco-cola and Pepsi • The other players are Wisdom Brands, Granular Sweeden, Stevia Cut, Blue California, Corn Products, Stevia Canada, Ever Stevia etc.

COCA-COLA

CARGILL

REBIANA

(Rebaudioside-A 95%) PURE CIRCLE

Malaysia

CULTIVATION &

PROCESSING

GLG LIFE TECH

CHINA

CULTIVATION &

PROCESSING

PEPSICO

WHOLE-EARTH

(MERISANT)

PUREVIA

TRUVIA

CULTIVATION &

PROCESSING

MARKETING

WISDOM NATURAL

BRANDS

(SWEET LEAF) BLUE

CALIFORNIA

GRANULAR

SWEEDAN REAL STEVIA

SUNWIN

CHINA

SWEET-ALOHA FARMS

HAWAII STEVIA

CANADA

STEVIA GLOBAL NETWORK

COCA-COLA CARGILL

REBIANA

TRUVIA REBAUDIOSIDE-A 95% APPROVED BY FDA AS

G.P.SWEETENER

SPRITE

GREEN

BEVERAGE

PURE CIRCLE

MALAYSIA

CHINA

KENYA

THAILAND

LAOS

S.AMERICA

PLANT CHINA -4000

MALAYSIA-2000

CRUDE

EXTRACT

MARKETING

COCA-COLA – CARGILL & PURE CIRCLE

Coca-cola cargill

Rebiana

Truvia

(95% -Rebaudioside-A)

GLG LIFE TECH

CHINA

CHINA

PLANTS

CHINA(2)

$200 MN FOR

3 YRS.

CONTRACT FOR

10 YRS.

CRUDE

EXTRACT

Coca-cola – cargill & GLG Life Tech

PEPSICO WHOLE- EARTH

(MERISANT)

PUREVIA

PURE CIRCLE

MALAYSIA

China, Kenya, Thailand

Laos, S.America

PLANT

China -4000

Malaysia-2000

CRUDE

EXTRACT

SO BE

Life water Beverage

PEPSICO AND WHOLE-EARTH WITH PURE CIRCLE

PURE

CIRCLE

China, Kenya, Thailand,

Laos & S.America

CHINA-4000

PLANTS

MALAYSIA-2000

COCA-COLA

CARGILL

TRUVIA

PEPSICO

WHOLE-EARTH

PUREVIA

SUPPLY MARKETING

PURE CIRCLE - MALAYSIA

PureCircle scaled up its crude extraction facilities in China in 2008/09. This plant has a production

capacity of at least 2,000 MT bringing total group capacity up to 3,000 MT per annum of stevia extract and

1000MT of refinery by early 2009. Outside China, PureCircle plans to invest up to US$100m in stand alone

new supply chain over the next 5 years.

Planned expansion

• US$ 30bn p.a. Sweetener consumption Sugar / HFCS

High Intensity Sweeteners (HIS)

• Increasing focus on Natural / Wellbeing /

Obesity

• Growing concern over artificial

Market for Sweeteners

Besides a safe natural sweetener, enough scientific

evidences are available to support the following

properties of stevia

•anti-diabetic

•Anti-obesity

STEVIA PRODUCTION

Part Three

NURSERY TECHNIQUES

Selection of the site

•The site should have good access , shade and weed free

•The site should be fairly flat land

• Adequate good quality water should be available, EC less than 0.5

• Soil Ph should be 5-7, otherwise to be reclaimed.

• The site should have a good protection

• If there is a green house, it is perfect.

NURSERY TECHNIQUES

Seeds quality

• Generic Dark Clean Stevia Seeds with high

germination rate, clean stevia seeds means the

debris and feathery attachments have been

removed and rubbed.

• EVER STEVIA CANADA http://everstevia.com

• SteviaLand International http://stevia-store.com

• Stevia Canada

Preparation of nursery beds •The land should be well ploughed and brought into fine tilt

• All the clods should be broken and weeds removed

•Apply 10 kg of organic manure in one sq. m and work very well

•Then open beds of one m width and convenient length.

• If well decomposed coco peat is available, top 3-5 cm could be covered with

the same

•Then spray some water and make the top surface little compact

•If poly-green house is not available, we have to provide poly tunnels

depending upon the temperature

Sowing of seeds and maintenance • Normally, there will be 2500 to 3000 seeds in one gram

• Since the seeds are little fine, mix 20 parts of fine dry sand and make it homogenous

• Wet the beds with a sprayer so that the beds are little moist

• Drench the beds with 0.1 % COC or Bavistin (disinfectant to prevent damping off)

• The seeds should be sprinkled on the surface of the beds uniformly @ 0.5g per sq.m

• Seeds should not be covered with soil since seeds require light for better germination

• Cover the seeds with a transparent paper

• Spray the water on the paper twice or as required a day, so that there is little moisture

always

• The optimum temperature is 24 to 29 c

• The seeds germinate 8-15 days after sowing

• The paper should be removed once the germination starts

• The polythene sheet should be removed during day time

• After 15 days of germination, the seedlings should be sprayed with cow dung suspension

• The seedlings will be ready for transplanting between 45 to 60 days of germination

depending upon the conditions

Pricking or secondary nursery

• Pricking gives better results.

• In case of secondary nursery, seeds can be sown thicker

(2-3 gm sq.m)

• When the seedlings attain 2 to 3 leaves stage, pl. scoop the

seedlings and plant in the multi pot nursery trays or poly bags.

• Multi pot trays will be useful if we use mechanical planters

Nursery beds in Vietnam

Stevia nursery in China

CULTIVATION of STEVIA

• Stevia grows best in sub-tropical climate and needs rich garden soil, full

sun and partly shade, humidity, moderate temperature and plenty of water

• SOIL: Well drained soil is a must and avoid clay at any cost

• Soil testing is essential and the pH should be 6.5 to 7.5

• The soil should be ploughed well, worked with harrow and clods broken.

• The soil should be worked with 25 tons of OM per ha and brought to fine

• Raised beds should be prepared with 15 cm ht. and 60 cm width

• Apply the entire dose of P as DAP as basal dressing

• Adequate good quality water should be available, EC less than 0.5

• Soil Ph should be 5-7, otherwise to be reclaimed

• The site should have a good protection

• If there is a green house, it is perfect

Planting

• Both the seedlings and TC plants are used for planting, TC

plants are the best, stem cuttings are also used

• There should be a minimum of 30,000 plants per acre with a

spacing of 40x30 cm or 23 cm between plants in raised beds

• The field should be moist at the time of planting and life

irrigation should be given immediately after the planting

Irrigation

• Stevia requires plenty of water all year around

• Micro sprinklers are the best

• The frequency of irrigation should be determined according

to the climate

• The field should not be dry and plants should not wilt for want

of water

Weeding The field should be weed free

• Since the plants are raised beds, it is easy to do the weeding

manually

PINCHING

• After 30 days of planting, pinching the top will facilitate good

side branching and more leaves

Fertilizer application

• Recommended dose is 110:45:45 kg of NPK per acre. P

as basal dose (N&K as split doses, N is the most

important)

Plant protection • Pests are negligible

• Septoria steviae and Sclerotina scierotiorum are the

diseases reported

• Diluted neem oil spray is effective otherwise we have to

go for chemical control

HARVESTING

• First harvest after 5-6 months of planting. Subsequent harvests every 3

months

• With better maintenance and favorable conditions 6 harvests possible.

• Cut off the plants with a pruning shears leaving 10-15 cm from ground

level

• Harvesting should be done just before flowering and the stevioside content

starts going down after flowering

• Stevia is a short day plant and it starts blooming once the short day sets in

• In long day condition, the Reb-A content will also increase

• The day length should be more than 14 hrs for best result.

POST HARVEST HANDLING

• Normal procedure is harvest the crop and bring it to the drying area for sun

drying or mechanical drying. ( 50 to 55 C)

• Leaves should be in thin layers, low humidity , under sun

• Rapid drying produce good quality leaves

• If the leaves are not dried fast, the glycoside content will go down because

of oxidation in the leaves

• It is better to dry the leaves with green color

• After drying leaves are stripped off from stems either by hand or

mechanical thrasher

YIELD

A well managed crop will yield 1.0 to 1.2 tons of dry leaves

in the first year and around 1.6 to 2 tons from second year

onwards

FLOW CHART FOR PROCESSING REBAUDIOSIDE-A

STEVIA CULTIVATION in EGYPT

Part Four

STATUS of STEVIA in EGYPT

• Stevia is a new crop in Egypt, though there is awareness

about the crop

• It is in experimental stage in some research stations

• It is not commercially grown anywhere to my knowledge

• So, it is felt that Stevia is in introduction stage only

• There is lot of interest and enthusiasm in growing stevia

REVIEW of FIELD VISITS in EGYPT

• Generally, fields around BeniSuef and Fayoum are predominantly sandy, since

cultivation area itself is part of the desert

• Soil is poor in OM and other nutrients

• The plus point is less weeds and nil soil pathogens

• Farmers apply lot of organic matter either cattle manure or compost and irrigation

water from Nile canals and/or wells

• They grow chamomile, lemongrass, peppermint, spearmint and Melissa other

than regular crops

• Cultivation in these desert areas with sandy soil is a real challenge and I must

have to congratulate Egyptian farming community for their sustained efforts,

devotion, hard work and above all their confidence and courage

ATTITUDE

All growers and companies are up beat with lot of enthusiasm and expectations towards Stevia. It was very impressive, the nursery maintained by Fridel group. It is of good standard and there is scope for improvement always. We have demonstrated the sowing of stevia seeds in 2 sq.m to follow in the future. They have good hands up to grass root level. As we know, there will be initial hiccups in introducing a new crop.

So, let us go slow and steady

CULTIVATION REQUIREMENTS for EGYPTIAN CONDITION

CLIMATE

Stevia grows best in sub-tropical climate and needs rich garden soil, full sun and partly shade, humidity, moderate temperature and plenty of water. It can tolerate high temperatures up to 38.C and low temperatures up to 5.C. It can not with stand frost. It seems that the day temp. during summer goes up to 40.C plus. Normally, the max. temp. will be between 11am and 3pm. During the time , it is better to spray, the crop with water to cool the plant premises. Mulching can also help in arresting the evaporation.

It seems that the night temperature during winter goes down to 2c in some of the areas. Here we can time the harvest before winter and apply mulch with straw. There is chill wind in some of the areas in Minya and wind breaks may be helpful which is a common practice here. Since the RH in most parts of Egypt is less than 70 due to dry weather and high winds. Though the rain fall is low, there is always Nile. If the irrigation is through well water, the water should be tested and the EC should be less than one. Both drip and sprinklers suitable. Stevia like less water but in short intervals.

NURSERY •Handle the seeds carefully while sowing as the seeds are fine and expensive

• Always allot one area for mother plants for taking stem cuttings for the next

season (plant closely for propagation)

• One acre plants may be adequate for 100 acres expansion

• Plant the cuttings after dipping in IAA

• The rooting medium should have coco-peat and vermiculite at the bottom and 3

to 5 cm with sand

• Give a slanting cut while taking the cutting

• Either green house or poly tunnel necessary

• Maintain high humidity always

SOIL • The soil in most parts of Egypt is sandy and clay soil in the deltas, so,

soil reclamation is a must

• Soil testing is necessary and pH should be corrected since Stevia thrives

well in the region of pH range of 6.0 to 7.5. In some farms, the soil is tested

and the pH was 7.2

• Here the organic matter content is very low and major nutrients will be

also very less. So apply organic matter 15 to 20 tons of compost or cattle

manure (well decomposed ) and well incorporated. Pl. get good source of

compost since it may contain lot of weed seeds as well as pathogens since

sand is inert

• Don’t compromise with fertilzers both in qty and method

• NPK : 110, 45, 45 KG PER ACRE in split doses except P

Production Plan

First Year

Nursery 1st harvest 2nd harvest 3rd harvest 2 months 6 months 3 months 3 month

Second Year

1st harvest 2nd harvest 3rd harvest 4th harvest 3 months 3 months 3 months 3 month

Third Year

1st harvest 2nd harvest 3rd harvest 4th harvest 3 months 3 months 3 months 3 month

Feb -April Sept. Dec. March