Palmarosa is a real, low-input aromatic grass crop for warm, dry to moderately wet parts of India, and it survives where many crops fail, but the money is in the oil, which means you need a distillation unit and a buyer before you plant. The price is the weak point: in March 2026 Dharmapuri (Tamil Nadu) growers reported oil at about ₹4,000 per kg locally against production costs of about ₹9,000 per kg, and the area there had fallen from about 1,450 acres to 410 acres in five years.

Farm-level oil yields of 75 to 125 kg per hectare are what extension sources report; research stations reach 250 kg or more. Plan on the lower figure.

Where it grows in India

  • Wild and cultivated: palmarosa grows wild in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Odisha, and oil has been distilled in India for over 50 years, mostly from wild stands. A KAU station note puts annual Indian oil output at 60 to 70 tonnes (an older figure).
  • Cultivation today: Dharmapuri and Harur in Tamil Nadu (350 to 400 small distillation units), the Marathwada region of Maharashtra (a KVK demonstration in Nanded), and CSIR-CIMAP trial sites in Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.
  • Climate: a warm, humid-to-dry tropical plant. Frost damages it. The Motia type grows on open, well-drained dry hillsides at 800 to 900 mm rainfall.
  • Soil: best near neutral pH, but gives economic yields on alkaline soil up to pH 9. It cannot stand stagnant water.

Varieties

Two-year CSIR-CIMAP trial at Pantnagar (sandy loam, pH 7.4, four cuts a year, 60 x 30 cm):

VarietySourceTraitsSuited to
CIMAP-HarshCSIR-CIMAP, 2010Oil 0.71%, herb 398.6 q/ha/year, oil 283 kg/ha/year in a Pantnagar trial; geraniol 88.6%Tarai, Uttarakhand (trial); try elsewhere only after local check
PRC-1Palmarosa Research Centre lineOil 0.70%; oil 262 kg/ha/year; geraniol 83.1%Same trial
TrishnaCSIR-CIMAPTallest (185 cm); oil 0.69%; oil 237 kg/ha/year; geraniol 75.9%Same trial
Tawirosa, CN-5, CK-10Other released linesOil yield 142 to 184 kg/ha/year; CK-10 had only 0.37% oilLower in the same trial

These are research-station results with full fertiliser and four cuts. Field results are lower. Ask CSIR-CIMAP or your KVK which variety has been tested in your district, and what the oil content is, since the buyer pays on oil quality.

Planting material and spacing

  • Propagation: by seed or slips. Sow seed on nursery beds in May; the Pantnagar trial transplanted 35-day-old seedlings in the first fortnight of July. Transplant seedlings about 15 cm tall.
  • Spacing: 20 to 60 cm between rows and plants, wider on fertile soil. The trial used 60 x 30 cm, which is about 22,500 plants per acre (55,500 per hectare).
  • Transplant at the start of the rains, since young seedlings are weak against termites and waterlogging.

Nutrition and irrigation

  • KAU recommendation: 10 t per hectare (4 t per acre) FYM before planting; basal 20 kg N, 50 kg P2O5 and 40 kg K2O per hectare (about 8, 20 and 16 kg per acre), plus 40 kg N per hectare (16 kg per acre) in two splits. Repeat NPK every year when new leaves appear.
  • CIMAP trial dose: 150 kg N, 80 kg P2O5 and 60 kg K2O per hectare (about 61, 32 and 24 kg per acre), with N split five ways: one-fifth basal, one-fifth at 35 days, and the rest after each cut.
  • Water: the crop can be rainfed, but irrigation at 10 to 14 day intervals in summer raises yield. Irrigated plots give 100 to 125 kg oil per hectare in extension reports, against lower yields rainfed. See drip irrigation.

Pests and diseases

  • Pests listed by KAU: aphids and thrips on shoots and flower heads, white grubs (June to November) and termites, which kill newly planted seedlings.
  • Diseases: Ellisiella blight and Curvularia blotch (worst in August to October in UP, MP, Bihar, Karnataka and J&K).
  • Older recommendations name chemicals that have since been banned or restricted. Follow the current label and ask your KVK before spraying; keep records, since the oil goes into cosmetics. See pests.

Harvest, distillation and yield

  • Harvest stage: at the start of seed setting, 10 to 15 days after flowering. Cut about 10 cm above ground.
  • Cuts: one or two in the first year, then every 70 to 80 days, giving 3 to 4 cuts a year. The Pantnagar trial took four cuts a year at three-month gaps.
  • Life of the crop: productive for 4 to 6 years; grass and oil yield start falling from the third or fourth year. Oil yield is low in year 1.
  • Grass yield: 6 to 10 tonnes per hectare per cut (2.4 to 4 t per acre).
  • Distillation: wilt the cut grass in shade for 24 to 48 hours, then distil. Steam distillation gives more and better oil than hydrodistillation. Oil content in the herb is about 0.4 to 0.5% (flowers up to 0.52%).
  • Oil yield: 100 to 125 kg per hectare a year on average (40 to 50 kg per acre); 250 kg per hectare is not unusual in good management. A Nanded demonstration (2023 to 2025, 1.2 ha) recorded 75 to 100 kg per hectare.

Cost and returns

  • Price: ₹3,400 to ₹3,500 per kg in Mumbai and Hyderabad markets (2023 to 2025, per a KVK report), and about ₹4,000 per kg locally at Dharmapuri in March 2026 (nearly double in other markets, per growers). Oil prices swing with the perfumery trade, so check a recent quote.
  • Nanded demonstration costs (per hectare): ₹60,000 to ₹70,000 in year 1, ₹25,000 to ₹30,000 a year after, and ₹1.4 to ₹1.5 lakh all-in including distillation. Reported gross ₹2.62 to ₹3.5 lakh and net ₹1.22 to ₹2 lakh per hectare a year. Per acre this is about ₹1.06 to ₹1.4 lakh gross.
  • Arithmetic: 75 kg x ₹3,500 = ₹2.6 lakh per hectare; 125 kg x ₹3,500 = ₹4.4 lakh. If your own cost is high, as Dharmapuri growers reported at ₹9,000 per kg of oil including raw material, labour and transport, a ₹4,000 price makes a loss. Fuel and labour for distillation, and distance to the unit, decide the margin.
💡 Tip: Before planting, confirm in writing a distillation arrangement (your own unit, a neighbour's or a custom unit) and a buyer's recent price. Grass that cannot be distilled within a day or two loses oil.

Market and risks

  • The oil sells to perfumery, cosmetics, soap and flavour traders; geraniol content decides the grade. Selling is usually through traders in Mumbai and Hyderabad and through middlemen, which limits the grower's bargaining power.
  • Dharmapuri's shrinking area was blamed on erratic rainfall in rainfed plots, weak and unstructured demand, and reliance on middlemen. Many distillation boilers there are 40 to 50 years old.
  • Groups can share a distillation unit and sell collectively through an FPO. Support for aromatic crops exists under the CSIR Aroma Mission and NMPB; no verified current rate for palmarosa was found, so check the subsidy finder and your KVK.

Sources