A world perspective By Rod Cook, Director of Agricultural Development, PureCircle

CULTIVATION AND ADAPTATION OF KAA HEE

AGENDA
Kaa Hee in Paraguay Stevia in China Expansion areas Adaptation mechanics to these new areas Discussion of additional directions the crop is headed for and how we will achieve the growth Conclusions

KA'A HE'E NATURAL HABITAT

NATIVE HABITAT
Latitude between 22o and 24o South Latitude Soils are generally slightly acidic 5.5 - 6.0 pH Sandy loam to loam natural soils are somewhat mineralized semi-tropical soils in the category of Ferralsols Rainfall is generally in the 1200 1700 mm per year and normally evenly distributed throughout the year Temperatures considered semi-tropical to temperate averaging 15o to 35o C

CHINA PRODUCTION

CHINA PLANTINGS
Latitude 30o 32o North Soils are slightly acidic 4.0 - 6.0pH Soils are red to yellow sandy soils generally associated with Acrisols Rainfall averages 900 1400 mm per year and is somewhat distributed throughout the year although weighted to the summer months Temperatures are 15o 30o with an distinct winter with temperatures often sub 0o

COMPARABLE SOILS AROUND THE WORLD

COMPARABLE RAINFALL AROUND THE WORLD

TOTAL WORLD WEATHER DATA POINTS

Unit Average high temperature
over 20 years

Year

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

78

87

86

84

78

73

69

69

71

73

80

82

87

Average low temperature

over 20 years

62

73

71

69

62

57

53

53

55

59

64

66

71

Highest recorded temperature

over 20 years

102

102

100

100

95

93

95

89

93

100

100

102

102

Lowest recorded temperature

over 20 years

26

50

41

43

39

34

28

26

30

33

32

46

50

Average number of days above 90F

over 20 years

days

64

15

11

11

Average precipitation
over 50 years

in

68.1

5.4

6.8

5.7

6.5

5.5

4.2

5.6

7.3

5.9

5.4

Average dew point

over 10 years

60

69

69

66

62

57

53

53

53

55

60

62

66

Most recorded rainfall

over 50 years

in

104.7

12.8

24.2

13.3

22.6

22.9

13

13.9

11.9

13.4

22.9

21.9

12.4

Least recorded rainfall

over 50 years

in

39

0.4

1.1

0.7

0.2

0.4

0.4

0.4

0.2

0.7

1.2

0.1

0.5

DAY LENGTH BY LATITUDE

ANALYSIS PROVIDES SOME ANSWERS

There are many areas in the world capable of coming close to the same environment as Paraguay, the natural home of Kaa Hee Even more areas are possible with application of irrigation, mulching, plastic tunnels But are these areas cost effective

???

ADAPTATION OUT OF NORMAL AREAS

High Latitude Plantings

Chinas

Heilongjiang Province 43o 45o North Croatias Dalmatian coast 43o 45o North Spain, France, Italy 36o 42o North Australia 32o 40o South USA 37o 45o North

WHEN WE SAY HIGH LATITUDES.

DALMATIA, CROATIA

CALIFORNIA, USA

ADAPTATION OUT OF NORMAL AREAS

Low Latitude Plantings

Kenya

0o Colombia 6o North Indonesia 0o 6o South Ecuador 0o Peru 3o South Egypt 29o 30o North

LOW LATITUDES - KENYA

VIETNAM

INDONESIA

HOW ARE THEY DOING THIS?

Stevia is much more adaptable than its herbaceous nature would suggest
We

have found the following components have resulted in successful plantings in many locations
Moisture

>70% soil capacity

Stevia is especially sensitive to water in the initial field planting times This is compounded by rapid evaporation of water from the open field conditions mulching is a major assistance
Organic

material >5%

More is better - Less is very challenging with bare root plantings

HOW ARE THEY DOING THIS?

Soil

Temperature <35o C
Significant reduction in growing at temperatures higher than this

Again mulching is a major assistance with reducing soil temperatures

Sunlight:

varies with latitude and altitude but shade is often required for early root development in the nurseries Minimize stress through proper soil preparation and proper plant preparation for going to the field and during initial establishment

Great genetic variability in photoperiodism

Significant

selection pressure is required to find the best variety or even strains to be successful at low latitudes while some varieties are less sensitive to frost (not freezing!)

WHERE ARE WE GOING?

The
WHO estimated that the sweetener Reb A from Stevia could/should approach 20% of the global sugar market. Sugar today estimated at 160 Million metric tons 20% of Sugar = 32 M MT sugar equivalent Reb A is 400 times sweeter than sugar, hence sugar equivalent = 80 k MT of Reb A Assume 30 kg leaf to 1 kg Reb A = 2.4 million MT leaf Assume 5,000 kg leaf / hectare farming yield = 480,000 hectares (todays avg. yield is around 4,000kg, but assume improvements) Current world hectares are estimated at 30 50 thousand world wide

HOW ARE WE GOING TO GET THERE?

Significant improvement in plant characteristics through continued selection and plant breeding

Leaf to stem ratios Further adaptation to expand growing areas Increases in Steviol Glycosides Move from vegetative propagation to high volume tissue culture systems

Significant improvements in plant/growing systems

Decrease costs of current planting systems Decrease costs from current planting systems Increase likelihood of cost efficient annual production systems

Move from vegetation propagation to seed culture

Irrigation and fertigation for maximum production per HA seeing 8 to 10 Mt on some fields

CHANGES IN PLANTING

CHANGES IN FIELD PRACTICES

CHANGES IN HARVESTING

OTHER RESEARCH FOR CROP EXPANSION

As Stevia becomes a significant part of the sweetener industry more advance research will be applied (like it or not)
Advanced breeding methods for maximizing Steviol Glycosides production High production greenhouse or laboratory processing systems for minimizing environmental impacts on the crop Chemical company support for herbicides and fungicides Application of greater mechanization for all aspects of the cropping systems

INCREASING INTEREST BY RESEARCHERS

CHANGE WILL OCCUR

The cultivation of Stevia is very new compared to most other popular crops
30-40 years of aggressive cultivation The growth cycle of the crop is in its earliest phases

New

popularity and demand is driving expansion in traditional areas This is accompanied by research to maximize field performance including adaptation and growing system evaluation

Stevia will continue to be evaluated and planted in ever widening locations far beyond what we see as its natural environment

CHANGE WILL OCCUR

In the end the rate of adaptation is not dependent upon the plant growth parameters Instead it will depend upon

Market
For

demand for the crop Profitability

the grower For the industry in total

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

PureCircle
South

America, Fernando Chilavert Kenya, Niall Deacon China, Dongwei Yan

ISRIC World Soil Information maps Robert Huxford GIS mapping project Western Australian Research Reports on potential new crops

Rod Cook Group Director for Agricultural Development PureCircle

AGUIJE
(THANK YOU)