Lakshmi Taru Farming: What an Acre Actually Costs and Earns
An honest cost-and-return framework for Simarouba glauca (Lakshmi Taru) farming in India — 160 trees per acre, the four-to-six year wait, and the market question nobody asks.
The short answer
An acre of Lakshmi Taru holds 112–160 trees, depending on whose spacing you follow — TNAU recommends 6 × 6 m (277/ha, ~112/acre), while 5 × 5 m (400/ha, ~160/acre) is widely quoted in India. It produces no income at all for the first four to six years. From year six onward a correctly sexed, well-tended block yields seed whose kernels run 55–65% oil, plus secondary income from honey.
Anyone quoting you a precise rupee figure for per-acre profit is guessing, and usually selling something. Below is the framework to work out your own number — and the market question that decides whether any of it matters.
Why we will not print a profit figure
Every "Lakshmi Taru gives ₹X lakh per acre" figure circulating in India traces back to promotional literature, not to audited farm records. They share the same three flaws:
- They assume every tree bears. Simarouba glauca is polygamodioecious — only the 40–50% of a seedling block that is female crops reliably. See male and female trees.
- They assume a buyer exists at a stated rate. For most Indian growers, this is the part that fails. See below.
- They quote mature-tree yields as though trees reach them quickly. The gap between year 6 and year 12 yield is very large.
What follows is a structure you fill with your rates, your labour cost and your water situation.
The cost side
Year 0–1: establishment, per acre
| Item | Basis | Your figure |
|---|---|---|
| Planting material — female grafts | per plant | ₹____ |
| Planting material — pollinator trees | see ratio note below | ₹____ |
| Pit digging and preparation | 45 × 45 × 45 cm pits | ₹____ |
| FYM / basal dose | per pit | ₹____ |
| Planting labour | ₹____ | |
| Irrigation — establishment | drip or manual, first summer is critical | ₹____ |
| Fencing / protection | grazing is the main year-1 loss | ₹____ |
| Year 1 total | ₹____ |
Grafts cost several times what seedlings cost. Pay it. An unsexed block is the single most expensive mistake available in this crop, and it is not discovered until year five.
Years 2–5: maintenance, per acre per year
| Item | Note | Your figure |
|---|---|---|
| Irrigation | Critical in summer, years 1–3 | ₹____ |
| Weeding and basin maintenance | 2–3 rounds | ₹____ |
| Manure | ₹____ | |
| Gap filling | Budget 10–15% replacement in year 2 | ₹____ |
| Plant protection | Generally low — few serious pests reported | ₹____ |
| Per year | ₹____ |
Run this for four years with zero revenue against it. That accumulated figure, not the year-1 cost, is your real investment.
The yield side
How many trees, and how many pollinators
Published guidance disagrees on both, so decide deliberately rather than copying a number off a seller's page:
| 5 × 5 m | 6 × 6 m (TNAU) | |
|---|---|---|
| Trees per hectare | 400 | 277 |
| Trees per acre | ~160 | ~112 |
Pollinator ratio is quoted anywhere from 1 in 6 (TNAU) to 1 in 20 (from a study of the species' polygamodioecy). That is a wide spread, and it matters — every tree given over to pollen is a tree not bearing fruit. Err toward more pollinators if your block is isolated, fewer if there are other Simarouba trees nearby.
The curve
| Year | What happens |
|---|---|
| 1–3 | Canopy building. No flowering. |
| 4–6 | First flowering. Which trees are female becomes visible. Early, light fruiting. |
| 6–10 | Yield climbing steadily. |
| 10+ | Mature canopy. TNAU gives an economic yield of 20 kg/tree from year 10. |
| to ~50–60 | Commonly quoted economic life — we could not source this figure. Do not build a payback model that depends on year 40. |
Per-tree yield
Published figures for a well-grown tree give 15–30 kg of nutlets per tree per year, equivalent to roughly 2.5–5 kg of oil, plus about the same weight again of oilcake. At plantation scale that is quoted as 1,000–2,000 kg oil per hectare per year (400–800 kg per acre).
Note what those numbers assume: a well-grown, mature, female tree. Seed is about 70% shell and 30% kernel, and the kernel is what carries the 55–65% oil — so work from nutlet weight, not fruit weight, when you model.
Treat these as planning brackets, not promises. Model your worst case on the bottom of the range, and on the female share of your block rather than its total tree count.
Working it through
Trees per acre ____ (112 at 6×6 m, ~160 at 5×5 m)
− pollinators ____ (1 in 6 to 1 in 20 — your call)
= female trees ____
× nutlets per tree (kg) ____ (use the LOW end first)
= nutlets per acre (kg) ____
→ kernel ____ (seed is ~70% shell, ~30% kernel)
× rate per kg ₹____ ← the number that decides everything
= gross revenue per acre ₹____
− annual maintenance ₹____
= net, before capital recovery ₹____
The question almost nobody asks: who buys it?
This is where Lakshmi Taru economics actually live or die, and it is absent from every plantation pitch we have read.
There is no MSP for Simarouba. There is no established mandi channel. There is no large-scale organised procurement. Unlike groundnut or soyabean, you cannot assume a buyer at a discoverable price.
Before planting, answer these:
- Who, by name, will buy my seed in year six? A processor? A cooperative? Am I pressing it myself?
- What is the nearest oil expeller that will handle this kernel, and at what distance? Transport on a low-value bulk seed kills margin fast.
- Is the buyer offering a rate or a promise? A plantation scheme offering guaranteed buyback at a fixed future price is making a promise it has no mechanism to keep. Several such schemes have collapsed.
- Can I press and sell the oil myself, into soap or cosmetic channels, rather than selling raw seed?
Growers who do well with this tree almost always control processing or have a direct end-buyer. Growers who plant on a buyback promise generally do not.
Secondary income worth counting
- Honey. The tree flowers December–February when little else does, which makes a plantation a genuinely good apiary site. Real, recurring, and it arrives years before the seed does.
- Intercropping, years 1–4. Wide spacing leaves the ground open. A short legume or vegetable through the establishment years offsets the dead period materially. This is the most under-used lever in the whole model.
- Leaf litter and biomass. Not cash, but reported at 10–15 t/ha/year of biomass added to wasteland, with pulp and litter quoted at around 8 t/ha/year for vermicompost. On degraded land this is the strongest agronomic argument for the tree, and vermicompost is a genuine secondary line if you have the labour.
Do not count on:
- Timber. Soft, pale, low-value. Salvage at end of life, not income.
- Seed cake as fodder — not without checking. TNAU calls it 64% protein and usable as cattle feed; other sources list manure use only, and the plant is bitter with quassinoids throughout. As manure (≈8% N) it is uncontentious.
- Medicinal value. Do not build a business case on the leaf's health reputation. See the research.
When this tree makes sense
Plant it if: the land is marginal, well-drained and currently earning nothing; you are in peninsular India; you can fund four to six years of maintenance with no return; you can source grafted sexed material; and you have a named, realistic buyer or your own processing plan.
Do not plant it if: you are replacing a producing crop; your land waterlogs; you are relying on a buyback guarantee; or the arithmetic only works at the top of the yield range.
Frequently asked questions
How many Lakshmi Taru trees per acre? 160 at the standard 5 × 5 m spacing, of which roughly 15 should be male for pollination.
How many years before Lakshmi Taru gives income? Four to six years to first flowering, and typically year six or later before yield is worth harvesting commercially.
Is Lakshmi Taru farming profitable? It can be, on land that would otherwise earn nothing, if you have grafted material and a confirmed buyer. It is not profitable as a replacement for a working crop, and published profit figures should be treated with suspicion.
What is the yield of one Simarouba tree? Published figures for a well-grown mature female tree give 15–30 kg of nutlets a year, equivalent to roughly 2.5–5 kg of oil. Yield varies widely with soil, water and tree age, and only female trees crop reliably.
Is there a government subsidy for Simarouba plantation? Support has been available at times through state horticulture and wasteland development schemes, particularly in Karnataka. Check your district horticulture office — do not assume it from a seller's claim.
Sources to be attached before publication — see docs/SOURCES.md.